


The Fantabulous Wingwomaning of One Harley Quinn

by Anonymous



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: Chaotic Bi Harley, F/F, Fluff, I mean can you blame her?, Lesbian Helena Bertinelli, Nudity, Poker, Public Nudity, Scars, There's Only One Bed (TM), Thirsty Dinah, Useless Lesbian Dinah, Wingwoman Harley, nudist resort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25944931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Dinah may or may not have a huge crush on Helena.Luckily Harley takes it upon herself to offer her help, whether Dinah wants it or not. (Spoilers: Dinah does not want it). Harley’s idea of being a wingwoman is… interesting.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 104
Kudos: 147
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No I have no idea where in canon this fits and I don’t care, give me chaotic bi best friend Harley or give me death.  
> I have a friend who can be blamed entirely for this. That's all I'm saying. I'm just going to sit here content in my anonymity.
> 
> I do plan to update this, but I don't know how much of a priority to make it or if anyone's even interested in this idea so, idk, let me know if this is too dumb.

Dinah was not staring.

She _wasn’t_. She had to look somewhere after all, and Helena was stupid-lanky so she just filled a lot of space. It was just probability; if she looked somewhere, it was more likely some part of Helena would be _there_ as opposed to _not-there_.

Yeah. That was it. It was just probability.

She was definitely not staring. Not staring at those arms, the firm, toned musculature that promised the strength Dinah knew she was capable of. Not staring at that strip of flesh visible over her abdomen, or at that confused-but-going-along-with-it look she always seemed to be wearing on her face. Not staring at her eyes, highlighted by that violet liner (and shit, that was _not fair_ , assassin boot-camp should not give someone such on-point make-up skills on top of everything else).

Not that she’d noticed. Dinah reached for her glass and gulped down her drink.

“Wow. Someone’s got it bad.”

She nearly dropped the glass at the sound of Harley’s voice. Damn it, as loud as Harley could be, she still seemed to know how to sneak up on someone.

Dinah coughed, tearing her eyes away (see, she wasn’t staring, she could stop any time). Harley had taken the seat beside her.

“Jesus Harl,” Dinah said. She cleared her throat pointedly. “Don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure, sure,” Harley said. “You and Helena, nothing to see here, I gotchu.”

Harley winked obviously. Dinah looked despairingly at her nearly-empty glass; conversations with Harley usually required a lot of alcohol.

“What do you want, Harley?” Dinah said.

“Why do I have to want something?” Harley said.

“You’re you?”

“What? Oh, no, no, that’s not what this is,” Harley said. “Girl who’s been unlucky in love here, consider me a romantic.”

“Yeah, because romance is going around with that baseball bat,” Dinah said.

“Exactly!” Harley said cheerfully. “So you want to get with Huntress then?”

“I never said-”

“Shh, shh, leave it to auntie Harley,” Harley said. “I’ll sort it all out, no trouble.”

“Wait-” Dinah began.

Harley stood up. Dinah reached out for her, but couldn’t quite make it in time; she almost stood up, but paused as she saw Harley head for the door to the club.

Not heading for Helena then. That was… probably a relief. Dinah took a deep breath.

Somehow Harley promising to help didn’t make her feel particularly confident.

* * *

In retrospect, the invitations should probably have been a clue. She and Helena just _happened_ to receive two identical letters announcing they’d won a free week at a resort.

They’d gotten Renee to do due diligence; she’d confirmed it was no scam. The place was real, and she’d called the number to make sure the reservation was genuine. She’d also looked like she’d been laughing, though Dinah hadn’t thought much of it at the time.

Maybe they should have done more researching on their own end. That might’ve helped. It was just hard to have the time; Helena was good at a lot of things, but if she was sat in front of a computer for more than a minute then chances were she’d punch a hole through it in frustration.

And Dinah, well she didn’t really have much of an excuse, she’d just been busy.

Still, it seemed to check out. She and Helena drove out from the city after a downright gruelling few months of crimefighting for some much-needed R&R.

And being with Helena, well, that was nice. Dinah could admit that. She didn’t need to make it weird.

Just time to relax.

At least, that was the idea. They parked outside the resort, and admittedly it was a good first impression; there was a river that ran down the back of the property, a well-cultivated garden out the front, and the local town looked nice.

It wasn’t exactly _them_ , but even hardened vigilantes could do with a break from the grime of city life every now and again.

Then they walked into reception. A shirtless receptionist was probably the first hint that something was odd.

The second hint was when they drew closer and realised she was substantially _more_ than shirtless. Dinah blinked, and pointedly tried to keep her gaze eye level.

“Er,” Dinah began, mind blank. “…Isley Resort?”

“Yes, can I help you?” the receptionist said.

Dinah blinked again. Her gaze drifted, taking care to never dip down, and she at last took in the sight past the receptionist’s shoulders. There were others at the resort, milling about an open garden area in the distance. Others, in the same state of undress as the receptionist.

At the resort where those two invitations had come out of nowhere for her and Helena-

It suddenly clicked for Dinah.

“Jesus _Christ_ Harl,” Dinah muttered. She looped her arm through Helena’s and spoke louder. “No, nothing, never mind, we’re going.”

“But I thought we were…” Helena said, confused.

She didn’t sound annoyed, more just baffled, though she obediently went along as Dinah dragged her out the door of the resort.

Dinah had known letting Harley help was a bad idea. Well, ‘letting’ was a strong word, Harley just seemed to do whatever the hell she wanted. ‘Bad’ meanwhile was far too mild a word.

Seriously, out of nowhere booking the two of them at some nudist place? That was just-

They made it to the car. The car that seemed to be a good couple of inches lower than when they’d left it. Dinah looked down.

“Oh, Jesus,” Dinah muttered again.

The tyres were slashed. All four of them. Best case, they’d need to get a mechanic out, but they were a long way from anywhere. There was definitely no getting home today, so…

Dinah looked up. In among the well-cultivated distant trees was one Harley Quinn, grinning excitedly and giving her a thumbs-up.

Dinah shot a distinctly less smiley look back. Harley’s enthusiasm wasn’t at all diminished.

“Dinah?” Helena said.

Dinah looked back; rather than taking in the greenery, Helena was glancing back at the building.

She had that usual air to her, someone who was just a little off-kilter from the kinds of people Dinah usually ran into. Head cocked to the side, a questioning look in her eyes, a curiosity that was more patient than most people would have expected from Helena.

Dinah sighed, grounding herself. Shit, she shouldn’t be so distracted she forgot who she was with.

“I bet Renee knew,” Dinah said. “She must’ve, she looked the place up. You’d think she could’ve _told_ us, rather than laughing behind out backs.”

“Aren’t we staying here?” Helena said. “I thought that was why we came.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Dinah said.

She waved in the general direction of the building. Helena followed her gaze, then looked back, expression unchanged.

“Looks nice,” Helena said.

“Not contesting that,” Dinah said. “But it’s still kinda, you know.”

“Yes?”

Helena looked at her expectantly.

“It’s a nudist place,” Dinah said. “Hence the receptionist.”

“Oh,” Helena said. “Yeah, I saw that.”

They paused for a few seconds. Dinah tried really, really hard not to think about the fact this was Harley’s idea of wingwomaning.

“So what are we doing about the car?” Helena said.

“I don’t know,” Dinah said. She pinched her nose for a moment. “Can probably get it fixed, but we’ll need a place to stay the night.”

“What about here?” Helena said. “It’s already paid for.”

Dinah blinked; Helena looked back at her, entirely innocently.

“Nudist place, Helena,” Dinah said.

“Yeah, but,” Helena began. She did falter a little then, tips of her ears going a little red. “I don’t really mind going naked.”

There was a pause for a few seconds as Dinah _definitely_ didn’t think about the ramifications of that.

“Dinah?” Helena said.

Dinah remembered where she was and blinked. She coughed.

Then she looked around, trying to think of another option. Nothing presented itself.

“I… guess there’s no other choice,” Dinah said reluctantly. “If you’re really okay with it.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Helena said.

She shrugged. Dinah sighed, already preparing for how unbearable Harley was probably going to be after this.

She turned around for a moment, looking past the car; she didn’t see Harley in among the trees anymore. Substantially more afraid of the Harley she couldn’t see, Dinah turned around-

And Helena was already pulling her top off. Dinah forgot to inhale for a moment.

“I-inside,” Dinah stammered. “We should go inside.”

“Oh. Right,” Helena said.

Absently, Helena led the way into the resort, Dinah swaying slightly behind her.

Fuck. This might kill her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason people like my dumb idea so hey, here we are.

Dinah wasn’t staring.

No, she absolutely wasn’t this time, because she knew exactly what was one step behind her and she was afraid that if she took one look she might faint. Helena Bertinelli, blithely abiding with the resort’s dress code. That was, naked as the day she was born.

They’d walked to their room – while it was considered inappropriate to wear clothes as it would make other guests uncomfortable, the rule could be bent for the first trip to their room. Some people preferred to undress where they could put their clothes away.

Helena, evidently, was not one of them. Dinah emphatically was.

(She’d gotten a few sympathetic looks and kind ‘First time?’ remarks from other guests on the way to the room. Dinah really hadn’t wanted to linger).

“There’s only one bed,” Helena said, as the door opened.

“Of fucking _course_ ,” Dinah said.

The room was nice. There was no question about that. They were a couple of floors up so the wide windows were more a source of sunlight than anything disconcerting, and they came with a neutral-coloured pair of curtains. The floor was tiled and plan, there was a TV against one wall, a table over the far side and, naturally, a double bed in the middle.

Dinah stared, still struggling to process the situation she found herself in. Her brain always seemed to end up doing a lot of catch-up whenever Harley was involved.

The door clicked shut behind her. There was a rustle as Helena moved past the stock-still Dinah, and Dinah wondered if breathing was strictly necessary.

Yes, she’d known Helena was behind her, and yes she’d known Helena was naked, but knowing and _knowing_ were two different things. One kind, for example, did not entail knowing each contour and drop and scar of the woman now shamelessly lifting their cases up onto the bed.

Lifting. Okay. Dinah swallowed; focus on that. The way the muscles in her arms flexed as Helena, without struggling at all, pulled their luggage up from the floor. That was…

Dinah’s mouth went dry. No, maybe don’t focus on that.

“Arms,” Dinah stammered.

“Hm?” Helena glanced sideways.

“Um. Need any help with that?” Dinah said.

“Nah,” Helena said. “All good. Don’t know how much of this we’re going to need to unpack.”

She’d opened the first case, so now she just tapped her hand atop it.

Right. Because most of what they’d brought were clothes, because they’d foolishly assumed they were going to end up at some normal hotel.

Then Helena turned around to face her more fully and Dinah briefly forgot how to speak.

A lot of things crossed Dinah’s mind. Chief among them was the fact she didn’t know any words for boobs that she actually liked. Sure, she’d sung at a club, she’d heard a _lot_ of synonyms, but God did they all _suck_. They went from clinical to juvenile to just plain gross and never once passed through ‘acceptable.’

And she could have definitely done with a word she liked just then, if only so that the word repeating itself over and over again in her head like some kind of fire alarm, was also a word that she could bear.

“Dinah? Are you okay?” Helena said.

Her brow furrowed a little, an expression of concern mixed in with a certain unfamiliarity with the sensation. Dinah tried to focus on that.

It wasn’t helping her focus, but at least it was a significantly more appropriate distraction. At least she was _used_ to being distracted by Helena’s face. Everything else going on was… new.

Dinah cleared her throat.

“I’m gonna call the mechanic,” Dinah said, abruptly turning around.

“’Kay,” Helena said. “If you undress now, I can get everything put away.”

Dinah absolutely did not nearly walk into the door.

And she hadn’t imagined Helena saying that. Well, no, she definitely hadn’t imagined Helena telling her to undress just so they could make the room tidier, that was certainly true. Dinah swallowed.

Shit.

Well she was staying at this place it seemed. Didn’t look like they had much choice in the matter, not now, so she might as well fit in. Truth be told, it did feel a little odd being the only dressed person in the room.

“I’ll throw it out,” Dinah said.

The room was divided up into bedroom and bathroom; Dinah brought her phone into the bathroom, not quite in the mindset yet where she was happy to just strip down in front of Helena. Well, not for _this_ kind of reason.

She put her phone down by the sink, then took a step back. There was a rustle of fabric; less than a minute later, the bathroom door opened a crack and Dinah threw her clothes out.

A muffled ‘Thanks!’ came from Helena.

Dinah took a deep breath.

It wasn’t as embarrassing as she’d feared, looking into the mirror. She’d seen herself naked before. And Helena seeing her naked, that was… well that might be a dream come true, but she wouldn’t say it.

She trusted Helena, at least. Helena wouldn’t make it weird. And the place… well hopefully she wouldn’t need to stay at the resort long enough to worry about it, but even if she did, she imagined it would be like that first cold plunge into a swimming pool.

It was casual for everyone here, right? If no one else made it a big deal, she could probably imagine that it wasn’t.

This was still…

Damn it Harley.

Dinah took a deep breath, and reached for her phone again. She made the call; navigating the irritating maze of automated machines was strangely comforting in its familiarity.

Finally it clicked as she made it through to a real person. Dinah sighed in relief.

“Hey,” Dinah said. “Short version, some idiot slashed my tyres and I don’t have enough spares.”

“Can I have your location?” said the voice on the other end.

Dinah rattled off the resort’s address.

“We’ll send someone around in the next hour,” the person said. “So… Dinah Lance, are you the person we’re meeting?”

Dinah paused. She looked at herself in the mirror.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Dinah said. “Don’t worry about me. Car with the slashed tyres, can’t miss it.”

There was a momentary pause.

“Er, procedure says-”

“Don’t care,” Dinah said. “Are you going to fix my car or not?”

Another pause.

“We’ll call you back when it’s done,” they said. “Is there anything else we can help you with today?”

“That’ll be all,” Dinah said.

She hung up, and sighed in relief as she slumped back. That was that done with at least.

Which left… she wasn’t sure what. Waiting around with Helena probably. Dinah took a deep breath.

She looked at the door, and psyched herself up for a second before walking out into the room proper. She froze for a split-second the moment she did.

Helena was sprawled out on the double-bed. She lay on her back, propping her back up with a pillow and reading a book she had supported with one lifted knee; at the sound of the door, Helena turned her head sideways. She blinked.

“How’d it go?” Helena said eventually.

She waited patiently for Dinah to gather her thoughts. Dinah was impressed by how quickly she remembered the English language.

“Should be good,” Dinah said. “I got through, at any rate.”

“Promising,” Helena said.

Helena was a lot of things; verbose wasn’t one of them. Dinah had to admit to liking that. After so long in a club, sound and noise everywhere, she liked the simplicity of it. When Helena spoke, it actually had meaning.

Unfortunately, Dinah still hadn’t moved. It was like Helena’s nudity created some kind of barrier; part of her didn’t want to go within a certain distance of her for fear of coming across as inappropriate, something made even harder by how the bed went most of the way across the room.

There were other chairs in the room, by the table, they were just on the far side of the bed.

Dinah swallowed, and started to move. Her first couple of steps were a little jerky.

Still, she pointedly kept her gaze focused on the far side of the room, and not on the lounging Helena. She was just passing the foot of the bed when Helena spoke.

“Sorry, do you want the bed?” Helena said.

Dinah jumped, and tried not to look sideways.

It was a weird middle-ground to be in. She wanted to see, of _course_ she wanted to see, she could stare at Helena for hours (not that she’d ever done that, and anyone who said she had was lying), but with Helena so… exposed, she simultaneously wanted to look more and wanted to want to look less.

It felt… improper, it was such a stuffy word, but it was good enough. It just didn’t feel right, no matter how casual Helena seemed to be about this.

Though God, that was _not_ helping matters.

She couldn’t help but glance for a split-second at the sound of Helena’s voice. She looked away again quickly, but there was no forgetting that view, nor that face.

“Er, no, no, I’m fine,” Dinah said, hurrying past.

“You sure?” Helena said. “I’ve been in worse places. I can take the floor. Doesn’t compare to the basements I’ve known.”

“I’m good,” Dinah said. “Slummed it in the back of my car once or twice here.”

“Forest floor,” Helena added, as an afterthought. “That kinda sucks without a bag. Leaves and bugs everywhere.”

Dinah snorted. For a moment she almost forgot their situation; then she looked at Helena and was met with a rather stark reminder.

“We’re really just comparing crappy sleeping habits, huh?” Dinah said.

Helena shrugged.

Dinah made it to the chair and sat down. It was odd; she’d have expected to be more self-conscious than she was. She just… wasn’t somehow.

She risked a glance sideways. Beyond forgetting how to breathe again, the reminder of Helena looking at her didn’t have much of an effect. She was acting like this was a complete non-entity.

Which… maybe it was. Dinah would be content with that. It would be a fitting _fuck you_ to Harley if, after all this, they both forgot it ever happened.

She looked at Helena for a brief moment, swallowed, and looked away again. Okay, maybe she wouldn’t be forgetting this so quickly.

“So, what are we doing for dinner?” Helena said.

“Room service,” Dinah said quickly.

Helena glanced at her, then shrugged.

“Toss me the menu when you’re done with it,” Helena said.

* * *

Dinner had been over surprisingly fast. Dinah had kept her eyes on the food; she wasn’t sure where Helena had been looking.

As much as she was glad Helena couldn’t make her feel self-conscious, there was still a certain degree of awkwardness. She couldn’t put her finger on why. It was just _there_.

Okay, normally they didn’t exactly chill like this; they went out to fight crime, they went home, and there they could relax. Helena was rooming with her as opposed to motel-surfing for the time being.

That meant movie nights, drinking, talking, laughing… Technically speaking, the movie was the only part of that they couldn’t do.

The rest just didn’t come quite so easily. Feeling her cheeks warm every time she looked at Helena probably was a factor in that.

“So,” Dinah began.

She fell silent. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Helena relax.

God, there was so _much_ to her. She knew Helena was tall, but it was kinda ridiculous how much space she seemed to take up. It was all the more apparent with the blur of pale skin that stretched out in her peripheral vision.

Dinah coughed.

“So,” Helena echoed.

Dinah wondered how they looked. Helena stretched out on one chair, and her hunched over on her own.

Her mobile rang. Dinah hurriedly reached for it, fumbling a couple of seconds before answering. At a guess, it’d be the mechanic; they were about due.

“Hey,” Dinah said. “How-”

“What the fucking _fuck_?!” a somewhat out-of-breath man said.

Dinah blinked, almost dropping the phone. It took a second for the person on the other end to catch their breath.

“Dinah Lance?” he said.

“…yes?”

“Why is there a crazy lady with a mallet keeping me from getting anywhere close to your car?” he said.

There was a pause. Dinah rested her head on the table, groaning.

“Hello?” the mechanic said. “I can’t work like this!”

“Call you back,” Dinah said, still face-down.

“Wait, I need an answer-”

There was a beep. Dinah groaned.

Helena quirked an eyebrow.

“I’m going to kill Harley,” Dinah said, muffled.

There was a pause.

“How?” Helena said.

“Huh?”

“You need to plan out a murder,” Helena said. “Going in with no plan’s a terrible idea. Gun? Knife? I can help if you want a crossbow. Then there’s _where_ , do you know where she’ll be? Give the place a once-over first.”

Dinah blinked. Then, slowly, she looked up; Helena was looking back expectantly.

“Um,” Dinah said. “No, I’m not- it’s a joke. I’m not literally killing Harley.” She paused. “Probably.”

“I know,” Helena said. “What? I can’t joke too?”

Dinah blinked. Only Helena would think legitimately good murder-advice was light-hearted; Dinah sat back up, smiling a little.

“What did she do?” Helena said.

“Scared off the mechanics,” Dinah said. She sighed. “I think we’re stuck here.”

“Oh,” Helena said.

“And I’m pretty sure she sent the invites,” Dinah said. “She implied she was going to do something… Harley, I just wasn’t expecting this.”

“Huh? Why would Harley want to give us a holiday together?”

“No reason!” Dinah said hastily.

Helena eyed her. Dinah was doing well, until she realised she’d been able to look at Helena while they were talking, realised _what_ she was looking at, and quickly looked away again as her cheeks heated up.

Damn it. She was a mess.

“Anyway. I’ll take the floor,” Helena said.

Dinah yanked her train of thought back onto a more respectable path, trying to remember what Helena was talking about. She quickly realised; they’d been musing over what to do that night earlier.

Night had already fallen. Beyond the curtain was just darkness; Dinah brushed her hair back, the day and drive starting to catch up with her.

“No, it’s fine,” Dinah said. “You have the bed, I’ll-”

“Just take the fucking bed already!” Helena snapped.

Dinah looked up. She last almost a second before laughing; even Helena chuckled after a second.

She got used to Helena’s habits after a while. She had a tendency to shout at any minor frustration; it worked great when she was hunting down mobsters, though it could bewilder people the rest of the time. Old habits and all that.

It wasn’t intimidating to Dinah though; she knew Helena, she knew how little it meant. It was just something she did.

“Wow,” Dinah managed. “Aggressive helpfulness. It suits you.”

Helena mumbled something.

“I’m pretty sure we’re only out here because of what Harley said to me,” Dinah said. “I’m not kicking you out to the floor over that.”

“I’m not going to be happy with that,” Helena said. “So what are we meant to do, share it?”

Dinah was halfway to responding before Helena blithely finished her sentence, and suddenly her cheeks burned even hotter.

Yeah, that… that was _not_ something she was going to imagine, especially while they were at a nudist resort. That was- That was _not_ -

“Well it’s that or you let me take the floor,” Dinah said.

It was meant to be a way to put her foot down. She was serious about that; Harley had decided to set all this up thanks to her absolutely-not-staring at Helena earlier, she wasn’t going to hog the bed when she was the reason they were both there.

So that should end the discussion. That was what Dinah had expected.

What she hadn’t expected was for Helena to shrug.

“Fine,” Helena said. “Guess we’ll share.”

Dinah squeaked. Then promptly coughed to hide the fact she’d made that sound.

Shit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: let's write a dumb silly idea about Helena and Dinah ending up at a nudist resort  
> Also me: but what if you took yourself too seriously?
> 
> Your regularly scheduled silliness will return shortly.

Helena had given up a lot of things.

She didn’t say that for pity; it was just true. She’d had a childhood, and then it was ripped away, and she’d replaced her life with focus. The world had shrunken down, her goal so narrow she could cut herself on it.

Guilt was one of the things she’d given up. So was shame; they just felt so pointless.

It also meant this… situation didn’t affect her as much as it seemed to Dinah. She had an odd, sideways view of it; she could see that it could affect people to walk around like this, she just didn’t understand _why_.

So it didn’t bother her. Simple. Straightforward. Helena liked seeing the world that way.

Which was why it was frustrating her so much that she couldn’t sleep. The frustration was something of a bitter circle; normally she liked to work out her anger by punching things. (Occasionally stabbing things, but punching bags were expensive so she’d tried to restrain herself).

But in a hotel room with Dinah, there wasn’t much she could do in the way of movement. And sharing a bed with Dinah on top of that, Helena went completely still, not wanting to disturb her.

So she was frustrated, and then she was frustrated at how she couldn’t do anything about her frustration, which just made her want to move and scream _more_ …

Instead she lay there and stared at the back of Dinah’s head. They were close enough that she could feel the warmth of Dinah’s skin, achingly close.

She wasn’t sure why she was so fixated on that. It wasn’t like she was surprised Dinah had skin. Hell, they’d been closer than this when they were sparring, this was nothing.

And somehow it was also everything, Dinah’s bare back just inches away. Her hair was swept to the side, falling high enough to reveal much of her neck, a spot that looked somehow more intimate than anything else.

Helena tried to breathe evenly; it was hard when she was also actively trying to avoid disturbing Dinah.

Helena had never really had ‘friends.’ Not before; they were, like so many things, something to be shrugged off. She’d had trainers, she’d help, but ‘friend’ was pushing it.

She had as a child, of course, but those memories felt like they belonged to a different person. Those feelings felt different too. That fondness was innocent, untouched; now she was with the Birds of Prey, Renee and Dinah, and Harley occasionally intruding on her own schedule.

That was friendship, she thought. That was more than she’d thought she’d have. But what she felt when looking at Dinah, here, now, was so different to those faint recollections of her stolen childhood.

Dinah’s breathing wasn’t even. Helena listened. Irregular, unsteady, hypnotic.

She tried to focus on it. If she couldn’t sleep, at least she could distract herself; she usually found that having something to focus on helped on nights like this. She focused on it so much she simply forgot to be conscious. If all else failed, that usually put her to sleep.

“You awake?” Dinah said.

Helena shifted. Part of her, the part of her that still keenly remembered every second of training and that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to turn off, chastised her; irregular breathing usually meant someone was awake. That was something she should have noticed.

She’d just been… distracted.

“Yeah,” Helena said.

Another few seconds passed. Then Dinah sighed, and rolled over, propping herself up on one arm; Helena wriggled further up the bed too, sitting up a little higher.

The sheets fell off them. It was uncomfortable to just lay there half-covered; Dinah kicked them off of her.

Helena felt her heart-rate quicken. She wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Fun night huh?” Dinah said.

“I miss hitting things,” Helena said.

Dinah chuckled; Helena couldn’t help but smile at the sound. She wasn’t used to laughter.

Then Dinah’s brow creased. Her hand reached forward for Helena’s collarbone, then stopped as if she’d only just realized what she was doing. After a few seconds, Helena tilting her head back as if to offer access, Dinah finished reaching forward.

Her fingers traced a small circle near the base of Helena’s throat, a coin-sized patch of paler, raised flesh under her fingertips.

Helena supposed Dinah hadn’t seen her like this before. She wasn’t exactly embarrassed by it, but she had picked up a few scars over her life. They probably would stand out.

“Looks nasty,” Dinah said.

Helena didn’t reply for a few seconds. There was something oddly calming about Dinah’s touch.

“One of my own arrows,” Helena said. “Missed a guy. He took it and stabbed back. Early days.”

Dinah raised her eyebrows. Helena was about to speak, when she noticed something herself. She reached down to a spot on Dinah’s side, just below her breast; there was an indentation in the otherwise perfect skin, a twisting.

Dinah caught her breath the moment Helena’s fingertips touched her. Helena heard.

“That’s a gunshot,” Helena said.

“Yeah, well, club in a bad neighbourhood,” Dinah said.

Something in Helena burned at that.

“What happened to the bastards?” Helena said.

“They shot-up Sionis’s club,” Dinah said. “What do you _think_?”

“Good,” Helena said.

Almost hypnotised, her finger traced the circular hole. Dinah squirmed; Helena’s eyes widened, and she quickly snatched her hand back.

“Sorry,” Helena said. “Too much.”

“N-no, it wasn’t…” Dinah said.

She was stumbling over her words more than usually. Helena frowned; that wasn’t like her.

Dinah cleared her throat.

“So, story-time instead of sleeping?” Dinah said.

Helena shrugged.

“Sure,” she said. “Not many here. Knife. Knife. Sword. Gun. Window.”

She tapped a few spots on her body. It was oddly freeing; it wasn’t like she dressed to hide her scars, but neither were most of them normally visible.

It was part of her though; you couldn’t spend your life training as a killer without picking up marks. Hiding them felt a little like lying.

And she liked how Dinah looked at her, sympathy without pity, care without expectation. Not to mention something else, something she couldn’t quite place, but that still felt nice.

“And that one?” Dinah said.

She reached halfway again, then faltered; Helena waited. She seemed to be going for a spot on her upper thigh.

“Corkscrew,” Helena said.

Dinah looked up. “Okay, didn’t expect that.”

“Teenage years in Italy,” Helena said. “I got pissed on the classy stuff. When your hands shake too much to uncork the bottle, it’s a good sign to stop.”

“I’ve heard worse systems,” Dinah said.

After a second, she reached out again, touched the small mark. She winced sympathetically.

Helena couldn’t help but feel disappointed when she took her hand away.

Dinah looked at her for a second; for a moment Helena thought she was going to say something, but then she rolled over, reaching for her phone. She groaned a second later.

“Three am,” she said. “This sucks.”

Helena reached out again. She couldn’t put her finger on why, it just seemed like the right thing to do; she rested her hand most of the way down Dinah’s side, gentle.

It was meant to be comforting. She wasn’t sure why Dinah seemed almost to jump.

“Sleep,” Helena said. “Gonna have to eventually.”

“Mm,” Dinah said.

She relaxed. She didn’t try to wriggle away from Helena’s hand; suddenly Helena wasn’t sure what to do with it. Leaving her hand there felt pointless, but taking it away, moving it, that both felt disappointing, and she wasn’t sure where it wasn’t meant to go after.

She lay there in an odd kind of paralysis for a few minutes, working through her options. As she started to reach a conclusion, she paused; Dinah’s breathing had evened out.

Asleep.

Well that made one of them, at least. Helena didn’t move her hand then; she didn’t want to wake Dinah up. She could just leave it there. Keep lying there.

Dinah’s skin was warm. It was pleasant, enjoyable in a way Helena wasn’t quite used to. She lay there, smiling and glad no one could see her, listening to the regular breathing coming from Dinah, and feeling the gentle thrum under her hand.

It was what she needed. It wasn’t long before Helena was paying so much attention to her that she forgot to stay awake, slipping out of consciousness and into her dreams.

* * *

Helena woke up curled up around something warm. Only half-awake, she clung onto it a little tighter.

She didn’t remember her dreams, left only with a fleeting impression as she awoke, but it was enough to make her glad she forgot them. Any comfort was something she was glad of. She tilted her head forwards, inhaling a pleasant scent, then coughing as she felt hair get sucked into her nose.

Wait, hair-

Helena opened her eyes to find herself staring, very closely, at the back of Dinah’s head. She had one leg splayed out awkwardly, a side-effect of moving while she was sleeping, she was just slowly becoming aware that it had ended up resting over the top of Dinah. Her arm wasn’t much better, looped down and resting by-

Helena rolled back, almost falling off the bed. Dinah quickly sat up.

“S-sorry,” Helena stammered.

She might not really experience much shame these days, but she did blush a little at that. Dinah struggled a little more to find the words to speak.

“I move when I sleep,” Helena managed.

Dinah was still struggling.

“Er. Good morning?” Helena said.

“Shower!” Dinah finally said.

Right. Morning. Maybe a bit fast, but she wasn’t the best judge of what was normal, she’d admit. Dinah was already halfway off the bed. Helena watched, still on her side, as she disappeared into the bathroom.

The sound of the shower started up a few seconds later. Helena waited, unsure.

Was this how mornings usually started, at least for people away from home? Back in Gotham it had usually been a bit slower. Wake up, unwind, get up, stretch, shower…

Usually it wasn’t ‘roll out of bed and sprint to the shower in thirty seconds.’ Helena shrugged.

She moved a little bit slower. As much as she liked to keep in shape, she also knew not to push herself too far. Eventually Helena sat up, idly glancing over to the bathroom again. She could still hear the shower.

Okay, Dinah was getting up fast, but that was taking way longer than usual. Helena tilted her head for a moment.

She stood up. After a moment, she took a step closer. An odd noise came through the door; Helena frowned.

She knocked a couple of times on the door. The noise rather suddenly stopped.

“You okay in there?” Helena said.

“Fine!” Dinah said, very loudly and very quickly.

Helena paused. Well, if Dinah said she was fine, whatever, maybe the water was just a weird temperature. Leaving her to the shower, Helena went back to the clear space by the bed.

One of the habits she’d gotten into was warming up in the morning; it got her ready for the day and woke her up all at once. She could shower off the sweat after. A few stretches, positions…

She was onto her twentieth push-up when the sound of the shower stopped and the door opened. Helena grunted, keeping herself on her toes and hands and looking over her shoulder. Dinah’s jaw dropped slightly.

“Hey,” Helena said.

Dinah was stammering again. Helena wasn’t sure what to think of that; it seemed to be happening to her a lot lately.

“I think I missed a spot,” Dinah managed, eventually.

The door to the bathroom promptly shut again. The water started up.

Helena hesitated, bemused. Then, shrugging, returned to her work-out.

What _was_ bothering Dinah so much?


	4. Chapter 4

Dinah was just putting the finishing touches on her hair when Helena came out of the shower. Dinah swallowed.

She’d tried to get it out of her system. Waking up to Helena climbing her like a tree, to say nothing of the effect that had on her dreams (because _that_ was absolutely what she was blaming), was distracting. Then coming out of the shower to see-

Well, she knew Helena worked out. That was hardly a secret. It was also rather more apparent with how much of Helena was in view in this place, to say nothing of getting a rather clear view. Every contour, every muscle she was straining…

Dinah’s throat went dry at the memory.

So getting it out of her system seemed the smart course. That way she wouldn’t be distracted today, and she could focus on trying to get the car fixed. Somehow. Surely Harley wasn’t going to hang around and scare off another mechanic.

Helena walked out of the shower, already towelling herself down with more concern for practicality than modesty. Her wet hair clung to her neck, seeming a little longer with the water weighing it down.

She ran her hands back through it, still dripping, then returned to rubbing herself down. Dinah absolutely did not stare.

Shit. Maybe ‘not being distracted’ was a bit too much wishful thinking.

They’d had an improvised breakfast from various snacks left about the room. It kept them going.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Helena said.

She went over to the bed. For a moment Dinah was sure she was going to have a coherent thought: then Helena started stretching.

Oh that was just not _fair_.

“Call mechanic,” Dinah said. “Wait. Hope. Take you up on your offer to kill Harley if it doesn’t work.”

“Oh,” Helena said. She paused, arms stretched up over her head, neck arched back. “Sounds pretty dull.”

“Yeah, well, not any better options,” Dinah said.

“Mm,” Helena said.

After a few moments more she gave a positively indecent grunt, then relaxed, sitting forwards. Her towel lay discarded on her lap, just a little too far down her thigh to keep from being distracting.

“Think I’ll head out,” Helena said.

“You’ll what?” Dinah said. “ _Here_?”

“Sure,” Helena said. She shrugged. “I get a little stir-crazy if I’m cooped up in a room for too long. May as well see what this place has to offer. How about you?”

“I… think I’ll pass,” Dinah said. “Someone’s got to stay here and call for repairs.”

“See you, then,” Helena said. “See you at noon? You can tell me how it went.”

“It’d better have gone well,” Dinah muttered. “Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”

Helena didn’t leave immediately. She spent a little more time drying off; Dinah had to admit, she wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for coming out of the shower at a nudist resort. Was it more rude to wear a towel, or still be wet?

Dinah still tried to keep her eyes focused on a point on the opposite wall.

Helena… okay, she was starting to be able to cope looking at Helena without forgetting how to breathe. Long-term exposure probably did that.

Helena while she was working out was a different story. Ditto for Helena rubbing herself down, and Jesus _how_ did she do that with her hair so easily?

Dinah caught herself watching out of her peripheral, and quickly looked away, cheeks warming.

And then there was the last night. Things got… foggy when she was sleep, that unreal haze of not-quite dreaming, she did things that she probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. She bit her lip at the memory of how _close_ they’d been.

Helena moaned. Dinah couldn’t help but look at that; it was just a stretch, but she honest-to-god _moaned_.

Dinah swallowed. Torture. Yeah, this was torture.

Then Helena stood up. She walked close by Dinah, pausing awkwardly. She patted Dinah’s shoulder, apparently not sure what the best farewell was.

“See you,” Helena said.

Dinah looked up. Helena looked even taller while she was sitting; still, Dinah would rather look up than deal with what was eye-level with her face and alarmingly close.

“Er. Yeah,” Dinah managed.

Helena hesitated for a bit.

Then she walked out. Dinah sighed, not sure whether she was relieved or very, very disappointed, and reached for her phone.

The call to the mechanic went the same way as yesterday. Then there was just waiting for them to say they were done.

And they had _better_ be, surely Harley wouldn’t just camp out by their car overnight?

Dinah paced the room. When that got boring, she went to her phone and downloaded some dumb game she knew she was going to regret playing. When _that_ got boring, it was back to pacing.

She wandered over to the window, pulling the curtain open a crack.

The resort was far from quiet. She was high enough up that not too much sound reached the room, especially through the closed window, but she could see flesh-coloured blurs far below. There was a pool, a few gardens, and a lot of open spaces down there.

Apparently no one else was having any trouble. Helena included, wherever she was; if Helena was in-view, she was too indistinct to be clear.

Dinah groaned, and moved back from the window. Then her phone rang; gratefully, she answered.

“Hello?” she said.

“Um. Dinah Lance?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You fix the car?”

“You… said you needed a repair for damaged tyres,” the voice said.

“Yeah, get on with it,” Dinah said.

“Ms Lance. Um. Your car doesn’t have any wheels.”

There was a pause. Dinah glowered at the wall. She very nearly screamed, just to let something out.

“Miss Lance?”

“God _damn_ it Harley,” Dinah said. “Okay. I get it. More trouble.”

She hung up. Booking a repair felt rather redundant if more and more damage was just going to be done. For a moment, Dinah buried her face in her hands.

When she sat up, she was looking at the hotel room door.

Maybe it was just a spate of madness brought on by sheer frustration. Maybe it was just that she’d been hanging around naked for a while, but going outside suddenly wasn’t seeming quite so unthinkable as before.

Part of it was just that she wanted to clear her head. The room was fine, but she’d spent more or less every second in it either near-hyperventilating or on annoying phone calls. It wasn’t like it was the best place to relax.

And it wasn’t that she missed seeing Helena. Dinah emphatically pushed those thoughts out of her head. Helena was her _friend_ , she wasn’t going to keep-

She remembered the last night, how… right it had felt to have Helena rest a hand on her side, how she’d been able to drift off almost immediately after that. She’d been surprised Helena could manage such a tender touch.

No. No. Bad thoughts. Dinah swallowed.

If nothing else, hopefully exploring the resort would prove a distraction; it’d give her something else to think about.

Besides, if Harley had decided to trap them there for the time being, she might as well enjoy the damn place.

Before she could psyche herself out of it, Dinah got up and walked towards the door. A deep breath later, and she was outside.

The first step was the hardest.

As soon as she was standing on the carpet of the hallway, she felt out-of-place. She’d been in hallways like this before, and always dressed; carefully, she took a step forwards.

She’d pulled on a pair of sandals at any rate. Somehow that made her feel more awkward; despite technically having more covered, it just reminded her of how much _wasn’t_. Still, she slowly kept moving.

The hallway was quiet at least. Panicking and sprinting back to her room was still on the table if it felt like too much.

She ran into someone by the elevator. She froze for a moment; the woman barely gave her a second glance, just a nod of acknowledgement. Dinah breathed a sigh of relief.

Okay, she wasn’t sure what she’d expected to happen when she met someone, but nothing happening felt good. It made it less awkward, somehow.

The elevator dinged. Dinah hesitated a second before following the other woman inside. Only then did the stranger glance at her again.

“First time?” she said, as the doors closed.

“Is it that obvious?” Dinah said.

She chuckled. “A little. Relax.”

Dinah knew she was tense. She kept her arms by her side, trying to act like this came more naturally to her – it felt like that would draw less attention – but she knew her shoulders were tense, knew her jaw was set.

The elevator doors dinged open onto the resort’s lobby. Dinah braced herself for the worst.

Nothing came. The other woman walked into the crowd, nodding a goodbye, and a few seconds later, Dinah walked out too. She got a couple of looks, but barely any more than she’d have gotten in passing if she were anywhere else.

After that, it got easier.

It was only weird if people made it weird, and no one was; for everyone here, she guessed, it _was_ casual. It took her a second whenever she glimpsed her reflection in a window and remembered, _oh yeah, naked_ , but beyond that it was almost too easy to relax.

It wasn’t like she was ashamed of how she looked anyway. It was just that she usually didn’t share so much of how she looked with so many people.

It just didn’t _feel_ like a big deal when no one acted like it was; her guess had been right. It was like that first cold plunge into a pool. Once she’d started, once she’d gotten over the initial shock, it didn’t stand out quite so much.

That answered that question anyway.

Then there was Helena. She probably ought to find her somewhere, if just to catch her up on how the repairs were (or rather, weren’t) going.

She was starting to just accept that they probably were stuck there for the time being. In that case, she had to admit to agreeing with Helena; sitting around alone in her room didn’t appeal.

Dinah turned into a quieter side-path, heading to a more open outdoors area; at a guess, Helena would prefer it there. Still, so long as it kept feeling this easy to walk around-

“Heya!”

She heard Harley’s voice, and promptly jumped, instinctively crossing her arms. She whirled around.

And Harley, apparently, wasn’t having any trouble abiding by the resort’s dress code. That… Yeah, that tracked. Dinah swallowed, cheeks warming up.

Speaking of nudity not feeling weird unless people made it weird, Harley. Harley made anything weird.

Harley was naked in a very particular way. While Helena acted shameless, it was more because shame simply didn’t seem to occur to her; the same seemed to be the case for most of the people at the resort.

Harley’s brand of shameless, meanwhile, was much more in-your-face, took shame out the back and put it down and was busy glorying in a life without it.

In short, it was probably the absolute last thing Dinah needed just then. She could deal with her state while everyone acted like it was normal; without that, she was hyperaware of the fact that crossed arms were no kind of a replacement for a shirt.

“How’s it going?” Harley said. “Do I get a thank you?”

“What the fuck, Harley?!” Dinah said.

Her voice came out a little more high-pitched than she’d meant. She took a quick few steps until it felt like she was in a quieter point on the path, just behind a pillar.

“Well that’s not very grateful,” Harley said. She pouted.

“Grateful?!” Dinah said. “You marooned the two of us at a nudist resort.”

“Exactly!” Harley chirped. “Time to bond, get to know each other, _really_ get to know each other, all that fun stuff. And it’s free, lucky you. Show off the girls, charm her, what’s the problem?”

“The problem-” Dinah began.

She took a deep breath. Okay, as surprisingly easy as walking through the resort had been, she also didn’t want to start shouting and draw yet more attention. She gritted her teeth and continued more levelly.

“You tricked us,” Dinah said. “Both of us. And trapped us together. In a hotel. With one bed. Naked.”

“Mm-hmm,” Harley said. “Still not seeing the problem here. You like her, right?”

Dinah glowered. Harley beamed cheerfully at her.

“You could’ve said something!” Dinah said.

“Yeah, but if I’d warned you, you’d have said no,” Harley said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Then don’t do it!”

“Some people are so ungrateful,” Harley said. She sighed.

“And you won’t let me fix my car!” Dinah said. “Where even are the wheels?”

“Ooh! I know this one,” Harley said. She leaned forward, eyes alight. “So, picture this. Jenga and Quoits met at a bar, had a _really_ freaky, drunk one-night stand, and then nine months later out comes this new game-”

“Harley,” Dinah interrupted.

She was rather grateful when Harley stopped. She shot a hurt look at Dinah.

“I was answering your question,” Harley said. “They went to a good cause.”

She paused.

“So did the engine,” Harley said.

“The engine?!”

“Well, yeah, couldn’t have you just driving off,” Harley said. “That’d defeat the whole purpose. Do you know how hard it was to get you bookings so quickly? Had to boot some people off their reservation. Lots of arguing, lots of yelling, it was a mess.”

“How did you even…”

“Oh, old friends with the owner,” Harley said. She shrugged.

Dinah blinked. Yeah, the fact Harley knew someone that ran a place like this was maybe the least surprising part of all this.

“So?” Harley said. “What do you think? Huntress, you, all alone…”

Harley still beamed. She leant in.

Dinah’s cheeks burned a little bit more. Okay, she knew this was inappropriate, but a reminder from Harley didn’t help.

She stepped back; Harley pouted.

“Well if you don’t ask her out, I’m gonna,” Harley said. She poked her tongue out. “Have you seen her? _Wow_. Knew she was tough, but she is _buff_.”

“Harley,” Dinah growled. Harley seemed to be ignoring her.

“Say, if I asked real nice, do you think she could lift me up over her head?” Harley said. “I bet she could. Got the arms for it.”

“I’m leaving,” Dinah said.

“Aww, but you didn’t answer,” Harley said. “Tweets!”

Dinah turned her back, walking away from Harley quickly, trying to pick up speed. Putting as much distance between the two of them as possible felt like a good idea.

Harley’s exclaimed ‘holy _shit_ ,’ when Dinah turned her back wasn’t helping her re-adjust to nudity either.

Though at least it seemed to distract her from following. That much was a relief.

She still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the nudity; as soon as she started approaching other people in the resort again, she was instinctively worried, but that feeling didn’t last long.

It was the same as before. They acted like it was casual, so it was casual.

Harley was the exception to that, Dinah reflected; she doubted Harley was physically capable of doing _anything_ casually. It gave Dinah hope though. For Helena, it _was_ casual.

Helena had never made a big deal of any of it.

Besides, it was slowly striking her that no one else at the resort had really stood out. Sure, it had been a shock the first time she’d looked out a window and seen a bunch of naked people walking around, but after spending more than a minute there she’d come to accept it. It was more than abstract that surprised her, she wasn’t staring at any _one_.

Maybe she was desensitized. That would make sense. You couldn’t be surrounded by nudity for that long and still find it stand-out.

So maybe she’d stop forgetting to breathe every time she saw Helena. Yeah, that’d make sense. That would make it easier.

Especially as it sounded like they were stuck there. Getting a mechanic to give her car a new engine, wheels and fix whatever else had been done to it, all while Harley was hanging around… That didn’t sound easy.

But if she could adjust to everything else as easily as she was adjusting to this, then yeah. This was doable. She wouldn’t be so distracted any more. She’d seen Helena naked plenty, she’d be used to it by now, and once nothing had any effect on her-

She saw Helena and immediately walked into a tree.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me to me: you know what your story needs more of? Glorious dumbass Helena.

So. Helena stood out.

There was no way she wouldn’t. She was climbing out of the pool, hair clinging to her skin, and on top of that she was too impatient to use one of the ladders; rather, Helena was pulling herself up to the side of the pool with more grace than Dinah thought anyone should be capable of.

Up to a point, all the nudity did blur together. Dinah was right about that; her gaze never lingered on any of the other people who were just walking around.

And then she saw Helena. For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on – that was a lie, she knew exactly what that reason was – it was impossible to look at Helena and just ignore her.

Helena saw her back. Dinah quickly took a step back onto the path, doing her best to pretend she hadn’t just gotten distracted and crashed into a tree. Helena was waving.

“Dinah! You made it,” Helena said.

“Yeah. Couldn’t stay in the room forever,” Dinah said.

She took a deep breath. Yeah, this was feeling different again.

It was a different way to Harley. While Harley just exuded completely the wrong kind of shamelessness, Helena just…

Well, there were no prizes what being face to face with a naked Helena was making her think of, which put being naked in public in a whole new light. Dinah tore her gaze upwards, still trying so very hard to focus on Helena’s face.

“So, you were swimming?” Dinah said.

Please say something she could focus on, give her any distraction.

“Yeah. I like saying active,” Helena said. “Did it more in Sicily; kinda lost the habit after getting to the States.”

Good, good, distracting. Dinah started to relax.

“You used to swim more?” Dinah said.

“Daily routine,” Helena said. “Had to keep in shape. Minimum, I picked the stroke, two lengths on my front, two on my back.”

Dinah swallowed. Less helpful.

“Anyway,” Dinah said quickly. “Er. Lunch?”

“Is it that time already?” Helena said.

She lifted her arm to check her watch, the motion instinctively making Dinah look down to see the movement. She forgot how to breathe again.

“Room or café?” Helena said. “Saw a place that looked nice.”

“What the hell?” Dinah managed, a little shakily. “Lead the way.”

Being naked here wasn’t so bad. She was slowly coming to that conclusion. Being driven slightly insane by every glimpse she got of Helena meanwhile, that was overwhelming.

At least a café would have more distractions. That was the hope.

Helena’s choice was a surprisingly rustic looking place; the tables were outside, several cushioned chairs laid out around each. They had just to pick up orders before being able to take their seats.

They chose a table slightly out of the way; that was just habit. It came easier to sit by the edge, the wall formed by a carefully cultivated hedge. Dinah relaxed, slumping into her chair; it was as distracting as she’d hoped.

There was a menu on the table, listing both food and various attractions around the resort, not to mention a few dozen others sat around their own tables. Most were some distance away; thankfully there was still no-one making any of this feel weird.

And then Helena sat down. She wriggled a little on her own chair, rolled her eyes, and hooked another chair with her foot to pull it around and kick her legs up, resting them on the other chair. She leaned back, and Dinah was glad she hadn’t started eating yet, else she’d probably have choked.

That was… a view. Helena leant back, one ankle resting atop the other, but otherwise leaving her legs outstretched and bare. She shot a glare at anyone that judged her for getting comfy.

Dinah swallowed.

“Hungry?” Helena said.

“Hm?” Dinah said, trying very hard to focus back on reality.

“You’re licking your lips,” Helena said.

Dinah coughed. She tore her eyes away from Helena and focused on the table, trying to adjust her chair slightly so at least _that_ wasn’t right in front of her.

“Er. Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to this, er, coffee,” Dinah said, picking the first thing on the table she saw.

She reached for it, and promptly burned her mouth; she hastily put it back down.

Focus, Dinah.

“So. Crazy day,” Dinah tried.

“Mm,” Helena said.

She reached for the burger she’d ordered to take a bite; Dinah still wasn’t quite used to the incongruity of the trained assassin chilling with a burger.

“See anything nice?” Dinah said.

She wasn’t quite sure what she was meant to say. It was remarkable how effectively nudity could derail an otherwise ordinary lunchtime chat.

Helena shrugged again.

“Went for a run,” Helena said. “Got to know the place. There’s a few gardens, a volleyball court, a couple of pools… About what you’d expect.”

“You… just went running,” Dinah said.

“And swimming,” Helena said. “You saw that. This is a good place for that, anywhere else, have to wait around or be stuck in wet clothes for the rest of the day.”

Dinah tried very hard not to think about the implications of that.

“Just sounds like you’ve been doing nothing but working out,” Dinah said.

“Yeah,” Helena said. She gave a slight snort. “Old habits. Spent yesterday cooped up in the car, went overboard today to balance it out. Just feels weird if I don’t keep up on my training.”

“Speaking as the person that you trip over at six in the morning, you don’t have to tell me,” Dinah said.

“That was one time!”

Still, Helena was smiling. It was an odd smile; sometimes Helena could be frightening when she was happy. She had a smile that looked forced, even if it wasn’t, something alien on her face.

This wasn’t quite that; it seemed more relaxed, more genuine. It only seemed to happen by accident, when she wasn’t thinking too hard about it, and just let herself be happy.

Dinah liked the sight.

“And you?” Helena said. “Thought you were staying in the room.”

“About that…” Dinah said. She groaned, remembering. “I don’t think we’re driving home that easy.”

“Harley?”

“Harley,” Dinah said. “Apparently our car is now missing wheels, an engine, and who-knows what else.”

Helena rolled her eyes, and took another bite of her snack.

“Ran into her,” Dinah said. “Harley, I mean, so she’s still here. Doing fine.”

“That’s good,” Helena said.

“It is?!”

“She must’ve driven up here,” Helena said. “Only way for her to get here. If she’s still here, so’s her ride. Can steal it if we need to.”

Dinah blinked. Huh, that was… not a bad plan.

She’d have thought of it eventually. Yeah, Dinah told herself that, she would have, it was just the shock of suddenly being naked in front of Harley that distracted her.

Not to mention other tall, toned, casually lounging distractions she could mention.

Although speaking of…

“Am I the only person around here that minded getting naked?” Dinah said.

“You came outside,” Helena said. She quirked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, turns out sitting around in a room is really boring,” Dinah said. “It… wasn’t as bad as I thought. But you and Harley seem to just be taking to it immediately.”

Helena shrugged, laconic as ever.

“Do you mind it?” Helena said.

“It’s… odd,” Dinah said. “Not like I expected. No one’s really acknowledging it, which is… not exactly how I thought people would react to walking naked past them.”

“Do you want them to?” Helena said. She tilted her head, earnest and innocent and relaxed all at once. “Er. You look great. Nice boobs.”

Coffee came out Dinah’s nose.

“N-no, that wasn’t- I- er-” Dinah stammered.

Okay, how was Helena so casual? That was _not_ helping. Dinah wiped her nose, still struggling.

“I’m not great at compliments,” Helena said.

“Yeah, that’s… situational,” Dinah managed. Probably the most delicate way of putting it. “I was _going_ to say that people not reacting made it stop feeling like a big deal.”

“Oh,” Helena said. She paused. “Sorry.”

“No, er, it’s okay,” Dinah said. She hesitated. “It feels different from you. I don’t know, this is weird enough to figure out, don’t expect me to explain it.”

Helena shrugged. “Fine with me.”

Dinah finished her sandwich, still reeling a little. There were things she hadn’t expected to hear from Helena.

She hesitated. She had questions, and she felt like she was going to regret asking them.

“So. You’ve been looking?” Dinah said.

She braced herself. Helena quirked an eyebrow.

“What?” she said.

“I mean, at…” Dinah said.

Her voice trailed off. She gestured vaguely at herself, cheeks warming a little. Yeah, stupid question.

Damn it though, she couldn’t help being curious. She could do with a little encouragement that she wasn’t the only one there uselessly thirsting.

“Oh,” Helena said. “I guess.”

Sometimes Helena’s inexpressiveness could be a little frustrating.

No, inexpressiveness was the wrong word; she could be very expressive, just generally only about certain things. This wasn’t one of them. She might have been having as much of a crisis as Dinah, or utterly indifferent, and it would be impossible to tell.

Evidently though Dinah’s mood was much easier to read; Helena paused, confused, but seeing the frustration regardless.

“Was I not meant to?” Helena said. “You’re right there. It’s hard not to.”

She honestly didn’t know how she was meant to feel at that. Self-conscious? Somehow that just didn’t feel right. Annoyed? _That_ would just be hypocritical. But feeling flattered felt presumptive, and feel hopeful was just…

No she wasn’t going to start thinking down that direction, she was floundering enough as it was.

Dinah cleared her throat, quickly shaking her head to signal a change of subject. She was struggling enough to fully put into words everything she was feeling about this situation, categorizing every other aspect felt like the path to madness.

“So, you don’t mind if it looks like we might be stuck here for a bit?” Dinah said.

Was it her imagination or was Helena’s gaze lingering on her? Then again, maybe that was just happening because she’d brought the subject up. Or she was only noticing because they’d been talking about-

No, focus Dinah. She swallowed, missing Helena quickly adjusting her position herself.

Helena shrugged, managing to look unconcerned.

“How long?” Helena said.

“No clue. It’s Harley,” Dinah said. “Predictable is not the word I’d use to describe her.”

“Can you cope?” Helena said.

Yeah, that was the question. Dinah was glad Helena had apparently decided to sit up; it was much easier to keep her eyes above a certain level than to just see everything whenever she glanced across to see Helena lounging.

“I… probably,” Dinah said.

Well, she could hope. Helena was still looking at her.

“Do you want a hug?” Helena tried.

Dinah was very glad she wasn’t drinking more coffee just then. It took her a moment.

 _Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it_.

“Sorry, _what_?” Dinah said. “ _You’re_ a hugger?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” Helena said defensively. “I could hug if I wanted to.”

“Um. Sure. I guess. Didn’t think…”

“People say it’s nice, and if you’re uncomfortable, it might help,” Helena said. “I do listen, you know.”

“I… right,” Dinah managed.

“So do you want a fucking hug or not?”

It was, perhaps, the most aggressive way that question had ever been asked. Dinah steadied herself.

And, quite by accident, thought about it. Warm, soft, and honestly probably tight given that she doubted Helena was one to rein in her strength, and-

No. Bad idea. She shifted in her chair, unconsciously pressing her legs together and trying to focus on Helena’s face and only on Helena’s face. She was waiting for an answer, her only impatience at how poorly she seemed to feel her point had come across, and otherwise apparently entirely innocent.

It was that seeming obliviousness that made Dinah hesitate. It felt kind of wrong to want something that was being offered so casually, so much.

Well, that and she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t just melt into a puddle on the floor the moment it happened. Dinah did her best to recover.

“I… er, thanks, but maybe… I don’t know how much it would help, exactly,” Dinah said.

Helena shrugged, leaning back. Dinah frowned. Wait, was that _disappointment_ on Helena’s face?

No, she was imagining it, she was sure of that. Dinah relaxed.

There couldn’t be _that_ many days left, right? 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dumbass Helena?  
> *slams down glass* MORE

You wouldn’t have thought poker would be part of a killer’s toolkit, Helena reflected, but somehow it ended up being the most-used part of hers.

She’d been so confused by those lessons at the time. Getting in shape, learning to use a crossbow, practising martial arts, all that she’d been able to understand; sitting still by a table and not showing off what she was thinking felt so far apart from what it was she’d actually wanted to achieve.

But there was more to it than that; a good poker face was vital. She showed nothing.

It gave her the freedom to access a lot more places, making her less of an immediate threat if she hid her goals so well. It could give her the edge in a fight; a foe that could seem so indifferent to the violence she wrought was intimidating enough for that. And if she gave no signs of her intentions, no one could predict her.

And then there were times where hiding what she was feeling would just help avoid awkward conversations.

It wasn’t that nothing bothered her, far from it; it was true that less things seemed to affect her than most people, but she’d come to terms with that. She put that down to her focus: anything outside of a narrow window didn’t matter to her.

But beyond that, there were two mistakes people seemed to make. On one hand, sometimes she just didn’t show when something affected her. On the other hand, something might bother her, but she couldn’t always put her finger on _what_ or _why_ , she just knew that she had the tiny niggling sense that _something_ was affecting her.

That was probably the most frustrating part of the resort. She was fairly sure the nudity didn’t bother her. If it did, it was really subtle; it was just one of many things that tended not to register with her.

But then there was Dinah.

At first she’d thought it was appreciation. Dinah’s kicks and form had always impressed her, even back when they were dressed and with the Birds of Prey. Getting a better view of her legs was… academically interesting.

Toned, strong enough to probably break a few bones with a decent kick, yeah, Helena could appreciate that.

But that didn’t seem to be it. It might have been a factor, but then Helena had found herself looking elsewhere.

She was pretty sure boobs were no good in a fight. At least, there were no uses she’d found, and she couldn’t really see any options. Why, then, did she find herself complimentary of Dinah’s?

The same could be said for a lot of things. So, no, appreciating her fighting skills probably wasn’t the sole motive behind… whatever it was she was feeling.

Sympathy was her best guess. She’d noticed Dinah was adjusting more slowly to the resort’s no-clothing-allowed policy, so perhaps seeing her naked just made her want to support her friend. That, at least, would make more sense. It didn’t feel quite right, but it was the best guess she had.

Though for the life of her, Helena still wasn’t remotely sure why she’d offered Dinah a hug.

She was _not_ someone who gave hugs. She just wasn’t. The most affection she typically showed was a curt nod, or sometimes a shout. A hug was just… sappy.

And no, what happened when they shared a bed did not count, she couldn’t be held responsible for how she moved when she slept.

Still, part of her found itself actually liking the idea. Wrapping her arms around Dinah, holding her, feeling the warmth of her skin against her, resting her head in her hair again, thigh resting against the warmth of her-

So Helena was very glad of her poker face. At least that way Dinah wouldn’t see how utterly baffled she was just then.

Or how inexplicably disappointed she felt when Dinah had refused the embrace. Still, Helena tried to convince herself she was glad. Why on earth would she want a hug?

Hanging out was… new, as well.

It wasn’t that they never spent time together. They lived together after all, ever since Helena had needed to make the transition from living in motels, but it was rarely alone time, and even less empty time.

She wanted to say something about that. How the time they spent together at Dinah’s place seemed to mostly consist of sleeping and eating, relaxing with little interaction, and yet Dinah’s presence made it better.

The movie night where Dinah was far too amused by the fact Helena had a favourite Disney movie (look, yes she was training to kill people, but it wasn’t twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-and-sixty-five days a year, she did have downtime). The impromptu singalong where Dinah had needed to get her window repaired.

Helena wanted to say something about any of that, or about how surprised she was that she actually had a good night’s sleep the first time she lived with someone else.

Or maybe about the Birds of Prey, how she liked how well they fought as a team, but also how most of their time together was with them. They fought together, planned together, and she was proud of it and enjoyed it, but there was no denying it was different to _this_. To just being.

She wanted to say that. What she said instead, was:

“Hey, do you want to go hit something?”

Dinah blinked.

“Just, we’re usually hitting things by now,” Helena said. “Don’t really know what to do without it.”

“Really is all training with you, huh?” Dinah said. She chuckled. Helena paused, considering.

“Training could be fun,” Helena said. “There’s a field for a couple of sports, grass is soft enough.”

Yeah. For some reason that appealed to her; a friendly spar could be fun. Sparring naked would admittedly be new, but something seemed encouraging.

She usually did pretty well against Dinah. Saying she was better felt unfair, after all a nightclub singer with above-average self-defence was a completely different background to an assassin trained for years, it was little wonder that when they sparred, Helena tended to do better.

That being said, Dinah was improving. Honestly she was catching up at a slightly alarming rate; Helena wouldn’t be surprised if Dinah won a match sometime soon.

Something in her reacted like that. Dinah getting in a good blow and knocking Helena to the grass, pinning her down. Nudity made it feel… rawer, somehow.

Huh. Helena paused, processing. Okay, that settled why she was so fixated on Dinah.

It was _definitely_ appreciation of her skills. Wanting Dinah to get better, being proud of how well she was fighting, wanting Dinah to practice enough to win and pin her to the floor or wall, she could see the appeal in that.

She was just impressed by how good Dinah was in a fight. That explained it.

“We could spar,” Helena said, only slightly breathlessly. “Usually fun.”

“You want to… spar,” Dinah said. “ _Here_?”

“Field’s probably softer that where we normally end up in scraps,” Helena said. “I’ve had worse. It’ll be fine.”

“ _Here_?”

Dinah was stammering again. Helena frowned, stopping walking and turning to regard her.

“You okay?” Helena said. “Thought it’d be nice. See if you can pin me for once.”

Dinah’s eyes went wide for a moment, then she looked away, moving unsteadily. Helena shrugged and followed.

“I- I- er, I… Maybe we should do something else,” Dinah said.

“You don’t want to?” Helena said.

“That’s _definitely_ not the problem,” Dinah said. She coughed. “But, oh! The two of us, sparring, our level of skill, it’d probably draw the wrong kind of attention, you know? Yeah, that’s it. It’s too risky.”

Helena paused, contemplative. Maybe someone would be suspicious of the level of training they’d need to have to spar like that. Honestly, thinking about it, it probably wasn’t a pastime that would help them blend in.

Reluctantly, she had to concede Dinah had a point.

“Could train another way,” Helena said. “Not all fighting. Might be something to do at the resort.”

“Feels… risky, here,” Dinah said.

“I saw a pool table,” Helena said. “By the corner of the bar. Or we could find cards; could train that way.”

“Wait, how are cards training?” Dinah said. “Throwing them at people feels like it’s just get us kicked out.”

“Just a game. Been a while since I played poker,” Helena said.

“You play poker?” Dinah said. “Shit, who am I kidding? Of course you do. You’ve got the face on lock.”

Helena nodded, a little proudly.

“Years of training,” Helena said.

“Is… this another joke?” Dinah said, uncertain. “I can never tell.”

“What’s funny?” Helena said. “Behind able to hide my tells comes in handy for more than just poker. Used to play it most weeks.”

She paused.

“There’s also the chance my guardians were just bored and wanted someone to play with,” Helena said, thoughtful.

“Can’t fault the multi-tasking,” Dinah said.

“If it was, they probably regretted it. I won a lot off them,” Helena said.

She smiled at the memory.

Honestly, her recollections of that time weren’t the clearest. It was all just a blur of learning and facts, _things_ without _events_ , there were only a handful of moments she could really point to.

Everything had just passed in a haze until she started out on her journey. And even that was… unfocused somehow, like she was too busy trying to get it done to bother making memories.

It was strange how much the years that had made her who she was just didn’t stand out to her. Not like what had come after; not like Dinah did.

“And pool?” Dinah said. “Don’t tell me that’s some secret assassin discipline too.”

“We used the cues for sparring. Common improvised weapon. I’ve had to stab a _lot_ of people with a snapped cue,” Helena said conversationally.

Dinah slowed for a moment.

“We played on breaks,” Helena said. “Got pretty good. I was out there years, I did more than just kill you know.”

Was this an inappropriate subject? Helena wasn’t sure, sometimes.

That was one of the things she was adjusting to deal with. Killing had just been, well, a fact of life for so long. She’d talked about it with no hesitation, and people had talked back similarly.

They’d known why she was there. They’d known what she’d wanted.

Apparently most people didn’t blithely mention murders though. She’d figured there would be some things to get used to when it came to life after her mission, so she wasn’t bitter at that, it just took time to sink in.

Though she appreciated how Dinah never made her feel out-of-place for her slips, no matter how much Dinah could be caught off-guard.

“Was that a yes or no to pool?” Helena said, changing the subject.

“A maybe,” Dinah said. “Show me the place first.”

Helena nodded.

She had a good memory for places. Tracing a path around the resort to the bar wasn’t so hard; the place was laid out pretty simply.

The building where they’d arrived was at one end, and served as little more than a reception area, with space above for events Helena had no idea about. Past it, the resort opened up; there were buildings on the right filled with hotel rooms, and on the left were several services. The bar was fairly close.

Between the two sides were outdoor areas; there were paths to walk down, gardens to explore, pools to swim in, and then courts for various sports at the far end. Helena had explored most of the place.

Helena caught sight of the bar; her pace quickened, moving ahead of Dinah. She moved to kick the door open, realized that instinct was another one she could forgo, and settled for nudging it with her foot.

The inside was as she remembered. A bar up one side, tables down another, with drinks, food, and up a step towards the back was the pool table. She took a step inside, and glanced back.

Dinah faltered. For some reason she was looking down, though she quickly jerked her eyes up when Helena turned.

Helena waited; Dinah still paused. She crossed her arms, suddenly looking unsure. A step sideways put Helena between her and the interior of the bar.

“You okay?” Helena said.

Dinah hesitated. She glanced over Helena’s shoulder again, then shook her head.

“Thought I was,” Dinah said. “Kinda hit me suddenly.”

“Want to go back to the room?” Helena said.

Dinah glanced over her shoulder. After a second, she nodded.

“Think so,” Dinah said.

Helena took a step back, letting the door close. Dinah took a couple of steps back.

She was fidgeting a little more now; Helena didn’t comment, moving beside her as they trod the familiar path back to the stairs.

“I _swear_ I was doing better than this,” Dinah said. She paused. “You don’t have to come, you seemed to be having fun.”

Helena blinked. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to her to not go with Dinah.

“I’d had a look around,” Helena said. “Can take a break.”

“Thanks,” Dinah said. She managed a shaky smile. “I think it was the bar, seeing a place like where I used to work, it sort of… made it sink in. Thinking of showing up naked _there_ kinda…”

“Mm,” Helena said.

She wasn’t sure what to add. She was sure Dinah could pull off a nude song – and for some reason very much liked that idea, despite Dinah’s singing often not being her genre – but Dinah being uncomfortable was reason enough to want her not to.

Honestly, she was surprised Dinah’s modesty had been ignored for as long as it had been.

“Guess it sounds crazy to you,” Dinah said.

“Does it matter?” Helena said.

“I guess not,” Dinah said. “Would be hard to explain the feeling. You probably didn’t do much showing up naked to work when you were hunting people down.”

Dinah’s voice trailed off; Helena glanced back. Dinah seemed distracted by something.

“Wouldn’t have been helpful,” Helena said.

Wait, why was Dinah looking disappointed again? _That_ Helena didn’t understand, far more than Dinah’s modesty concerns.

They made it to the room; Dinah hurried inside, relaxing almost as soon as she crossed the threshold.

Then she paused, went to their cases, rummaged around for a few seconds, and came back with a pack of cards. She flashed it to Helena before heading over to the table.

She seemed to be relaxing again; the room probably had that effect. If it was seeing the bar that made her uncomfortable, returning to a more home-like, more private setting had to help.

Helena expected to feel the opposite. She usually wasn’t indoors for too long, or at least not inside a place as quiet and unstimulating as a hotel room for any longer than it took her to nap and change. She’d sit around for a bit, but without much to do she’d get antsy fast.

She could deal with it, but she’d expected to need to cope. Instead she felt no such rush.

“Play something else?” Dinah said. “You said you were good.”

“Sure,” Helena said. “Two player poker?”

“Show me what bored mobster’s training can get you,” Dinah said.

She opened the pack; Helena sat down, feeling strangely light. Dinah was smiling again, looking much more comfortable than she had since their lunch, though Helena wasn’t quite sure why it made her feel so glad.

She must’ve really missed playing poker, she supposed, though she didn’t remember being _that_ into the game.

“Want to shuffle?” Dinah said.

Helena nodded and took the cards. After a few seconds, Dinah’s eyebrows rose.

One of the worst things, those years ago, had been doing nothing; she couldn’t train all the time without burning out or hurting herself, so she’d found other ways to keep busy. With games like this on the table, she’d gotten pretty good at a few stylish shuffles.

It was all look, none of it promised any skill or luck at the game, but it was oddly nostalgic to get a chance to rifle through a deck again.

“What?” Helena said. “Shooting a crossbow’s not the only thing I can do with my hands.”

 _Why_ did Dinah keep getting a distracted look on her face? Helena sighed, resigned to the mystery as she handed the cards back.

“What are we playing for?” Helena said.

Dinah paused.

“Strip poker?” Dinah said. “May as well get _some_ use out of the clothes we brought with us.”

“You’re on,” Helena said.

Dinah went for the cases again. Helena couldn’t help but feel an odd flicker of disappointment as Dinah pulled a top down over her bare skin, the fabric contrasting with the perfect skin below.

Disappointment? Huh. Helena wasn’t sure what brought that on; maybe she was just impatient for the game to start.

Yeah, that sounded about right. She must _really_ have liked poker.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is the first time I'm posting a chapter with very little of the next chapter written. Hopefully it won't delay update-times too much, but just a heads-up in case it does.

The afternoon passed surprisingly quickly, Dinah reflected. A few hands of cards, a couple of outfits gone through; strip poker could feel surprisingly low-key after spending the whole day naked.

Helena really was good at the game. Her poker-face was flawless. Which honestly made it a little easier to focus; Helena was the one that more often stayed dressed. At least that way Dinah didn’t feel like melting.

Until Helena started messing up when Dinah was almost out, at least; Dinah put that down to nerves. That was probably it. Helena could still have something of a temper, it would make sense if she got too tense when she’d almost won.

Of course _that_ had the side-effect of Dinah’s hand going worse, so Helena usually still ended up winning.

Until, eventually, a rematch came to an end and Dinah leaned back, glancing at the clock. Her eyes widened.

“Huh. Been longer than I thought,” Dinah said.

“Hm?” Helena said. She followed Dinah’s gaze to the clock. “Huh. Oh, yeah.”

She paused.

“What are we doing for dinner?” Helena said. “Room service again?”

“Probably better than finding a place out there,” Dinah said.

She was pretty sure she’d be able to manage a restaurant; they had a different atmosphere to a bar, and even so the main thing that had made her react poorly to the bar had been the sudden shock of being flung to a more familiar setting.

If she were more prepared next time, she was sure it wouldn’t be that bad.

Apparently they were just stuck there anyway.

Dinah made the call again, and Helena cleared up the cards and stray outfits. She kicked off her pants – one of the last things either of them had one – and as she did, and Dinah forgot how to speak for a second.

When dinner came, Dinah answered the door, almost just to prove to herself that she could.

“Oh God,” Dinah said suddenly, as she sat down.

“What?” Helena said.

“ _Renee_ ,” Dinah said, “She looked this place up for us. She knows what it is.”

“Yeah. She didn’t seem to mind,” Helena said.

“But she knows we _stayed_ ,” Dinah said.

Helena looked at her, frowning.

“She doesn’t know it was Harley,” Dinah said. “She’s gonna think we just turned up, found out we’d be naked, and stayed in a room together.”

Helena continued chewing slowly.

“Well we _did_ ,” Helena said.

“Yeah, but she’s going to think…” Dinah began.

Her voice trailed off. Was she meant to _say_ it? She’d been trying very hard to not think too much about it.

Helena continued to look at her in confusion.

“Think of it like… say, you heard Harley and I took a vacation, and we didn’t bring any clothes,” Dinah said. “What would you think-”

Helena growled. Dinah blinked.

“Oh,” Helena said. There was a slight flush to her cheeks. “She thinks…”

“Mm-hmm,” Dinah said.

There was something a little comforting about knowing Helena actually _could_ be embarrassed.

God. She’d been so worried about Harley being a pain, she hadn’t thought to consider how much Renee was probably going to keep bringing this up. She could imagine the quips now.

“You’re… not, are you?” Helena said. She sounded oddly unsure.

“What?”

“Go. With Harley,” Helena said.

“Are you _kidding_? After she marooned us here?” Dinah said.

Something that looked almost like relief crossed Helena’s face. Dinah missed it, wrestling with her dessert; the hotel had supplied a small one-serving tub of ice cream. The lid was just rather tightly attached.

Eventually she got her fingers into the side and pulled, and squeezed just hard enough for a half-melted chunk of ice cream to jump from the tub.

She yelped as the cold landed on her breast; for a moment she faltered, trying to figure out where to put the tub on the table. In that second, Helena leaned across.

“Let me get that,” Helena said.

Dinah was pretty sure her heart skipped a beat as Helena reached over with a napkin, fingertips skating across her breast. Her thumb skated lower to scoop up drips, and brushed a spot that elicited an audible gasp.

Dinah very quickly bit her lip.

“Oh. Er. Ah. Sorry,” Helena stammered.

More awkwardness. Dinah swallowed.

“’s okay,” she mumbled. “Cold.”

“Right,” Helena said.

It was a second before Helena remembered to snatch her hand back. Dinah cleared her throat.

Well _that_ was something she was going to keep thinking about.

“I should call Renee,” Dinah said, distracting herself.

“Hm?” Helena said.

“Make sure she knows… y’know,” Dinah said.

“You think that’d work?” Helena said. “An eight-pm phone call in the middle of our getaway to spontaneously tell her we’re _not_ having sex.”

Dinah paused, suddenly realizing how that would sound from Renee’s perspective.

“Yeah. Shit,” Dinah said.

Then she groaned.

“I could’ve phoned her anyway,” Dinah said. “She can give us a drive back. Problem solved.”

“Unless she gets attacked by Harley,” Helena said.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Dinah said. “Or would you rather stay here?”

There was that blush again. Dinah frowned; well Helena did seem to fit in surprisingly easily.

Wait, no, that was silly. Why on earth would Helena want to stay in a place where they were both-

“Just being a realist,” Helena said, interrupting Dinah’s thoughts.

Dinah sighed. She had a point, anyway.

They kept eating for a moment more as Dinah mused. Honestly, she was pretty convinced that staying seemed to be their best option. It wasn’t as though Harley had much of a concept of moderation. Or boundaries.

And, well, Renee probably wouldn’t worry. She certainly hadn’t called.

Dinah tried not to think about what it meant that Renee considered them staying at a place like this unremarkable.

Eventually, Dinah helped clear the table away as they finished off their dinner. Her mind was still buzzing; her chest tingled slightly from where Helena had touched her.

It was the surprise factor more than anything. She knew it was innocent, she kept trying not to dwell, but having Helena’s fingertips brush any more than her hand or maybe her back if she was clothed, _that_ was something she hadn’t expected.

She looked around quickly; distraction, she needed a distraction.

The same pack of cards presented themselves. Glancing over to make sure Helena was done with her dinner, Dinah picked up the pack.

“Another round?” Dinah said. Helena nodded.

 _That_ game went even more disastrously. Focus seemed to be something of a forlorn hope. She bluffed every time she shouldn’t have, and folded far, far too easily.

After a couple more goes, that went equally poorly, she gave up.

And honestly, she felt like she was doing _better_ then. Somehow it was less distracting to have Helena just sitting there naked, than it was to see Helena slipping out of her bra and being expected to focus on literally anything for several minutes afterwards.

“So I win… an empty tub of ice cream, a plate, a cup, a spoon, and a knife and fork,” Helena said.

“Until the hotel takes them back,” Dinah said. She shrugged. “Not much else to play for. Don’t have the energy to get dressed again.”

“Yeah. It is better when you don’t,” Helena said.

Dinah was sitting back, and almost missed that sentence. It was a couple of seconds before she registered it, and promptly stiffened, looking at Helena; Helena seemed just as surprised she’d said it.

“I mean, undressing, slows the game down,” Helena said. “Better to just play.”

“Oh, right. Yeah,” Dinah said.

Damn it. She blamed her dirty mind; she swore it wasn’t normally this bad but, well, two days spent with Helena and very little clothing, it was a lot to process.

* * *

Dinah wasn’t sure whether she dreaded night or looked forward to it. On one hand, it marked out the passing of time in this perpetually frustrating environment.

On the other, well, one bed. She could feel Helena’s weight on the bed behind her; she faced away to avoid getting an eyeful, but there was no avoiding feeling that weight. She could hear her breathing, each rustle as she shifted.

Last night, Helena had faced her. Dinah wasn’t sure if she still was; there was no arm on her side. Dinah had mixed feelings about that, and mixed feelings about having mixed feelings. She couldn’t help but feel guilty at how much she reacted to the things Helena did apparently obliviously, but she still had to admit it was _nice_. She’d fallen asleep so easily when she felt Helena close to her.

Feeling safe felt like such a cliché, but it was still true. Maybe something hardwired into human brains. It was so much easier to drift off when she felt Helena there, muscles and general badassness altogether.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t take care of herself, but something about Helena just _clicked_. She didn’t need to worry. It had been a while since Dinah could genuinely say that.

Helena shifted; it felt like a movement she made in her sleep, but the bed groaned nonetheless. Dinah adjusted herself, and froze when her butt bumped into something warm.

She wasn’t sure what part of Helena that was, but it was definitely distracting. Dinah swallowed, and wriggled a little bit further forwards. She tried to not wake Helena.

There was the sound of a snore; Dinah bit her lip to keep from chuckling.

Okay. Sleep, she told herself. She just needed to sleep. She shuffled a little bit, steadying her breathing.

There was another noise, another rustle as Helena moved in her sleep, and leant forwards. Something surprisingly soft bumped into Dinah’s back. Dinah yelped, shuffled forwards, and fell off the bed with a thump.

“Huh? Whazzat?!”

Helena sat bolt-upright suddenly, becoming alert in surprisingly few seconds. She looked around, then blinked to see Dinah face-down on the floor.

Fuck. Dinah rolled over, awkward climbing back onto the bed (and bringing the sheets with her, because that view was _not_ helping her focus).

“Rolled too far,” Dinah said. “Sorry. Didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh. No problem,” Helena said.

She was still sitting up as Dinah made it back into the bed; a little awkwardly, Dinah kept to the side. Helena had rolled closer to the centre of the bed as she slept. It was a second before Helena noticed how close Dinah was to the edge.

“You don’t have to be that far away,” Helena said.

“Er…” Dinah said.

She gestured vaguely at how central Helena was. Helena’s eyes widened, and she shuffled back a little way.

“Oh. Sorry,” Helena said. “Didn’t mean to crowd. Look, you can get close if I roll any nearer, I won’t mind.”

Dinah tried _not_ to think about that. Helena caught herself.

“Oh, er, unless you mind,” Helena said.

“I- um, not- not exactly,” Dinah stammered.

Helena smiled contentedly before laying back down; Dinah averted her eyes, swallowing.

At least she had permission to not move, for what that was worth. She wasn’t sure if it would make her feel any _less_ awkward, but it was at least a start. She just had to not fall out of bed again.

Honestly, staying in the bed probably was the better way to fall asleep.

Helena seemed to be managing it more easily tonight. It wasn’t too much longer before she heard a stray snore, Helena’s breathing evening out. Dinah sighed, slightly jealous.

A few minutes later and she was starting to drift off, until she heard Helena shift. Something very warm bumped into her again; Dinah bit her lip and tried to ignore the feeling. No falling out of bed, no waking Helena up, _no more_ awkward moments.

Helena shifted again. Dinah whimpered.

Why did Helena need to be a sleep-hugger? She was so standoffish the rest of the time, Dinah could _really_ do without thinking of her as physically affectionate. Dinah kept her eyes closed, adjusting to the toned warmth at her back eventually.

 _Don’t think of boobs. Don’t think of boobs. Don’t think of boobs_.

Dinah gave a slightly frustrated groan as she shifted; it turned out that wasn’t the best way to stop thinking about what was pressed against her back.

She managed to keep mostly still, putting only a little bit of distance between the two of them, but still resolutely staying on the bed this time. Slowing her breathing, she tried to focus on that; it was a trick that had worked for her on a few sleepless nights.

In out. In, out. Drift off…

She wasn’t sure how long she lay there. Dinah had the feeling she must have slept for stray hours here and there, she just somehow missed it, time passing both achingly slowly, and faster than she’d expected.

Still, she lay there, doing her best to distract herself with a dozen small tricks as she tried to pass the night. Behind her, Helena snored.

Then Helena shifted behind her, shuffling closer.

“Still awake?” Helena said. Her voice was low, oddly breathy; Dinah gulped.

“I- um, yeah,” Dinah said.

“Here, I’ve heard this helps,” Helena said absently. “Let me take care of you.”

It was dark, but Dinah didn’t need to see to feel the bare arm reach over her side, and she stiffened suddenly as Helena’s fingertips trailed down her stomach, and down further, Helena’s breath in her ear as-

Dinah jerked awake to see daylight streaming into the room, cheeks burning. A dream, shit, a dream.

Then she realized that, dream or no, Helena had apparently decided to cling onto Dinah in her sleep. Dinah stiffened, and accidentally headbutted her bedmate’s nose; Helena stirred.

“Morning,” she murmured.

Her voice was low again, husky from the early hour. Dinah’s heart still pounded, heat still pooled in her from the abruptly interrupted dream. That was _not_ helping.

 _Fuck_. Bad time to have a dream. God, having one of those dreams about her teammate would be awkward enough, but did it _need_ to happen while they were in the same bed?!

And Helena still had one arm draped over Dinah’s side, and one leg half-over Dinah’s in some strange sleep-guided motion. Dinah rolled forwards, flustered.

“Dinah?” Helena said.

“Dibs on the shower,” Dinah managed to say, and half-ran to the privacy of the bathroom.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of ways to say 'Here, have Dinah having several dozen gay heart attacks.'

Dinah wasn’t sure how she’d been persuaded to leave the room again.

No, that was nonsense. She knew why. Being outside hadn’t been so bad before, and staying in the room was even worse even if the resort _was_ as bad as she feared. Either she’d be alone and bored out of her mind, or be sat stewing with Helena and trying to not feel guilty for cooping her up, or guilty for just how much she was thinking about thoroughly inappropriate things.

The thing she wasn’t sure about, was why she let Helena pick the activity. Low-key wasn’t exactly the word for a lot of her hobbies.

She’d talked Helena out of sparring – Dinah wasn’t sure her heart could take that – and it was too early to chill in the bar (as tempting as alcohol was given _everything_ ), but Helena had quickly remembered one of the places she’d seen when walking around the resort.

They hadn’t quite reached it, but Dinah instinctively got a sinking failing.

That probably wasn’t fair. Then again, it wasn’t Helena’s judgement she was questioning; Dinah was more than content to blame all of this on Harley, wherever that car-ruining embodiment-of-chaos had ended up.

The resort still wasn’t so bad. Once she got used to the feeling of the air on her skin, certainly a novel sensation, she could more easily forget her situation.

It wasn’t weird unless someone made it weird, she kept telling herself that, repeating it over and over in her head. Nothing was actually making her feel uncomfortable except herself, and even that was just periodic bursts of seeing her reflection and thinking _what the hell?!_

Though that didn’t happen so much when she had distractions. That distraction might be lunch, as it had been yesterday, or looking around the resort. When she was following Helena to some place of her choosing however, the distractions were minimal.

She could look at the view, but they weren’t walking slowly enough to explore; Helena’s pace was always fast, more practical than tourist. She could look at Helena, but the distraction that offered was just a _very_ firm reminder of how much Helena worked out (as though the front-row-seat to her morning calisthenics didn’t give that way) which was entirely the wrong kind of thought.

So looking around it was, with all the extra reminders that entailed.

Their pace started to slow; Dinah blinked.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding,” Dinah said.

“What?” Helena said. She looked back.

“Archery?” Dinah said.

It occupied a surprisingly small amount of the field. There were half a dozen targets, and a few bits of equipment laid out at certain stations. A handful of people, in lanyards and little else, presumably served as staff to keep the place safe.

Helena shrugged, still glancing back over her shoulder at Dinah.

“Thought it was fitting,” Helena said. “Didn’t you say you were curious?”

Dinah blinked; they’d had an exchange like that after one of their nights out as the Birds of Prey, ruminating on how she was a little jealous of how Helena got range as opposed to relying on her fists and feet. True, Dinah had her cry, but it was more a last-ditch effort given the odds were she’d pass out right after using it.

She hadn’t thought Helena would remember.

“I… guess,” Dinah said slowly. “Just surprised this place does it.”

“Not complaining,” Helena said. “They’ve got to have some activities.”

“…Suppose it’s easier to do this on-site,” Dinah said. “I wouldn’t want to go too far from the resort with this… dress code.”

“Huh. Maybe,” Helena said.

She glanced down like she’d forgotten; Dinah suppressed the urge to comment.

They approached the range; Dinah fell back to let Helena do the talking. Thinking about it, it was something of a novel decision, but then ‘novel’ was certainly one word for this place.

She had managed to talk with a couple of people. There was the staff member who’d brought them room service, and there were a few people she’d passed by who’d tried making conversation, but none of those encounters had exactly gone on _long_. It was a far cry from seeking out dialogue.

So Helena could deal with the logistics. That was probably fair. She let her attention wander for a few moments, trying to figure out how this would work-

“What do you mean you don’t have a fucking crossbow?!”

And Helena was yelling at a startled-looking staff member. Dinah hastily brought her attention back to her immediate situation, and spent a second awkwardly trying to work out where was an appropriate place to touch Helena to silently signal her to tone it down.

Eventually she settled on Helena’s wrist. Helena faltered, pausing to look at Dinah, silently taking in her gaze.

She knew Helena. Anger came easily to her; it was a side-effect of her upbringing. Shouting was never a danger sign though. When she was _really_ mad, she got disturbingly quiet; the yelling was just her way of casually venting emotions.

Well, casual for her, unnerving for people they ran into. Either way, it didn’t take much for Helena to calm down, once she was reminded that yelling normally wasn’t taken well.

Helena took a breath. She scowled.

“Fine,” she said. “ _Bow and arrow_.”

She said the words with as much scorn as she could muster. Dinah suppressed a full-on giggle, sensing that it would be hard to explain Helena’s elitism over ranged weapons if she made it too obvious.

That was the other problem with Helena’s occasional volume; it drew attention. More eyes on them was the last thing Dinah needed just then.

Okay, it wasn’t that the nudity was that made people stare – at least she hoped not – but people _still_ stared.

“C’mon,” Helena said. “Let’s see what you can do.”

She handed the bow to Dinah, as soon as they reached a marked spot on the ground. There was a line marked at the edge of a paved surface, just before the grass began, and several signs loudly declaring ‘DO NOT CROSS,’ likely to avoid people walking into a hail of arrows.

Straight ahead was a target; Dinah raised her eyebrows. It looked oddly further away now that she stood there.

“Um, sure,” Dinah said.

Apparently they were doing this. Dinah shrugged. What was the worst that could happen? She had wondered about picking up some kind of weapon.

“Be better if you didn’t have one of these stupid things,” Helena muttered. Dinah suppressed a chuckle again.

“You can tell me all about how crossbows are clearly superior when we’re done,” Dinah said.

“I _will_ ,” Helena muttered.

She took a breath, reaching forwards, and then Dinah’s brain froze as Helena leaned in.

“Okay, so hold it like this,” Helena said.

She was standing behind Dinah again, alarmingly close. Dinah wasn’t sure when she had gotten so near, but she knew it was overwhelming. Helena reached forwards, a hand on each of Dinah’s wrists, guiding them into the optimal position for holding the bow.

Which would have been bad enough, with Helena again awfully close to her back, personal space apparently not occurring to her.

Helena’s arms lay along hers, helping guide her hands into position; Dinah swallowed. She could feel each curve of muscle, the firm fibres letting Helena effortlessly get her into position.

“There,” Helena said.

Her voice dropped, instinct when it came to wielding a weapon making her go quiet, and making the whisper in Dinah’s ear almost make Dinah’s legs give way. While Helena was no doubt thinking something educational and helpful, Dinah’s mind was spiralling into _fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_.

“Pull the string,” Helena said. “Might be a bit tougher than you expect. Get used to that.”

Dinah opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. She did want to ask Helena if she needed to stand so close, but couldn’t quite work out a way to say that without it coming across as insulting, or without going into detail as to the actual reason it was so distracting.

Oh God, they weren’t even alone at the range; Dinah swallowed, tearing her eyes away from the staff, and the couple a few targets over. She’d just focus on the bullseye in front of her.

Pull the string, release. Pull the string…

“Good,” Helena said softly, and Dinah _really_ hated how much she liked hearing Helena said that. “Okay, now…”

Helena lifted up an arrow from a nearby bucket. She growled as she handled it.

“Okay, hold the head,” Helena said. “Forwards. You just need two fingers. Perfect number.”

Dinah made a slight gurgling sound.

“Just two. There, steady. And pull back,” Helena began. She groaned again and continued, more annoyed. “See that? Back of the arrow, past the fletching, that crummy bit of plastic? Stupid little… _That’s_ how it works, you just hook that on the string, and pull back.”

“Er,” Dinah said. “Did it do something bad?”

“It’s just so _stupid_ ,” Helena said. “Plastic fucking bunny ears are what keep a bow and arrow working. Without that, the whole thing’s useless, no way to get the arrow on the string. What kind of weapon relies on something so dumb?”

Helena growled again, fingertips digging into Dinah’s wrist for a moment; she quickly caught herself, despite Dinah’s lack of complaint.

“Do you… want to do something else?” Dinah said.

“No. I can do this,” Helena said. “Once it’s in, you just pull back, aim, and…”

Dinah pulled on the string, keeping the arrow supported with her fingers; Helena stayed close behind her, resting her hands on Dinah’s even when she wasn’t guiding her any more. Dinah’s hands shook slightly.

She released; there was a surprising sense of power to it, the arrow immediately shooting from her grip. She’d seen Helena fire her crossbow before, but there was something still impactful about seeing such a simple set-up, and more than that a bow she was holding, send the arrow that far.

It completely missed the target and instead hit an already-dented metal wall.

Somehow Dinah wasn’t surprised. If she couldn’t focus on breathing, how was she meant to aim?

“That’s the gist,” Helena said. “Try again.”

Helena handed her another arrow; Dinah fiddled with it for a second to nock it, that time without the distraction of Helena’s hands on her.

“That’s it, just there,” Helena murmured.

Although _with_ the distraction of those whispers in her ear. Dinah chewed her lower lip, trying to focus through it.

Hold the arrow, pull the string, try to stop trembling just because Helena was alarmingly warm behind her. Try to stop thinking about how any context she’d prefer in which she was naked and Helena was pressed against her absolutely did _not_ involve another couple a few metres over making casual conversation.

She let go. That time the arrow at least found the target, burying itself a little way into the bottom edge.

She was _far_ too relieved she’d managed to do that. Dinah took a step back, glad.

“Try pulling the string back a little further,” Helena said. “I can-”

Dinah swallowed, trying to think of a course of action that was less likely to end in her hyperventilating.

“How about you show me?” Dinah said quickly.

“Huh?” Helena said.

“You’re the pro,” Dinah said.

_And it would hopefully involve less close contact_. Dinah steadied herself, cheeks hot, trying not to look too disappointed as Helena took a step back.

She took the offered bow, weighing it in her hand for a moment, before glancing back at Dinah. Dinah took a moment to relish in the lack of distraction.

“Go on then,” Dinah said, a little playfully. “Show me how it’s done.”

The one thing she could say about the nudist resort, nudity was slowly starting to stop seeming like a _thing_. True, Helena was still a stand-out, particularly next to everyone else, but the sight of her was becoming… usual was probably the best word for it.

But she’d gotten used to her heart skipping a beat whenever she saw Helena, even clothed, so she was at least practiced at the adjustment. It just took a little longer to adapt here because _holy shit_ how could it _not_?

Okay, she’d thought that before, but it really did feel like it was starting to be true. Seeing Helena was always overwhelming, seeing Helena naked was something there weren’t words for, but she was getting used to standing there with her heart-rate skyrocketing.

_That_ was seeing Helena. Feeling Helena pressed up against her was on a whole other level Dinah was pretty sure she would never get used to. So watching Helena from a distance really did feel like the best option.

Even if she was scowling at the bow.

“You know this isn’t a crossbow, right?” Helena said.

“You seemed to know what you were doing,” Dinah said.

“I practised with most weapons,” Helena said.

The couple at the next target glanced over. Helena spotted them out of the corner of her eye and hastily rethought her sentence.

“Sports equipment,” she said. “Practised with a lot of sports equipment. Serial sportswoman. That’s me.”

She paused again. The couple were frowning at her; she turned more fully around.

“The fuck are you staring at?” she said.

The two rather quickly looked away, returning to their own session. Helena’s expression relaxed again, and she turned back to Dinah, hefting the bow; despite her flare-up, she was smiling again.

“Never trust anyone who thinks these are cool,” Helena said. “By the time you’ve slotted an arrow into place and aimed, whoever you’re fighting is in your face. And arrows are _really_ fiddly at close-range. Stick to bolts.”

And, as if to bely her words, she nocked an arrow without even looking at the bow. She absently lifted it up, pulling the string back before it was even raised, and only glanced at the target for a second before loosing the arrow.

It whistled through the air with what seemed like more speed than either of Dinah’s shots and buried itself in the target, just off the bullseye. She frowned.

Then lifted, nocked, and fired a trio more arrows in quick succession. Dinah gulped.

She was _not_ turned on by watching Helena use a weapon. Nope. That would be silly. And probably wrong. And worryingly on-brand.

Although… even if she wasn’t, the sight wasn’t exactly forgettable. Helena had adjusted her posture just slightly, one foot in front of the other, rooting her feet on the ground, tension running up her legs (and her brain going _butt butt butt butt_ was at least a newer refrain than its usual looping of _boobs_ ).

And tension was the word for it; she held her posture firmly, and the muscles in her arms flexed as she used a remarkable amount of strength to pull the bowstring back further.

Vaguely, Dinah remembered Harley quipping about Helena bench-pressing her. Dinah had scoffed at it at the time; that was just Harley being Harley. It was a stupid idea. A stupid, and suddenly remarkably tempting, idea.

No. Dinah coughed. Stupid. Definitely stupid.

But on top of that, there was nothing quite as attractive as watching someone do something they were good at; the smoothness with which Helena pulled out the arrows, even if it was a weapon she’d apparently grown out of, and aimed and fired, was breath-taking.

As the third arrow was on its way to the target, joining a cluster around the bullseye, Helena glanced over.

“Are you okay?” Helena said.

“Very,” Dinah said, slightly hoarse. “Just… impressed.”

Helena blinked. Despite how much she’d been talking down about the weapon, she seemed momentarily flustered.

Distraction, distraction…

“Say, can you do that Robin Hood shit? Splitting the arrow, you know,” Dinah said.

“Not a thing,” Helena said.

“Huh? I’ve seen it,” Dinah said. “You have one arrow in the target, then the other hits it at just the right angle to land down the middle of-”

“Do these look like wood?” Helena said, pulling out another of the reinforced plastic arrows the range had; “You’re _not_ splitting these with anything. And even wood’s bullshit. You can _maybe_ get a chip out of an arrow, but no way is it splitting.”

Helena gesticulated with the pointed arrow, remarkably heated. The couple at the next range glanced nervously over again.

“You sound… invested,” Dinah said. She raised her eyebrows.

“It’s bullshit, okay?” Helena said.

She paused. Then groaned.

“Saw it in a movie. Tried for _weeks_ ,” Helena said. “Doesn’t happen. Trust me.”

Helena paused, bow and arrow in hand. After a second, she offered them back to Dinah.

“You want a go again?” she said.

“Um…” Dinah said.

A little hesitantly, Dinah took the bow. She moved forwards, taking Helena’s place by the line, and took considerably longer to nock the arrow. Her hands weren’t shaking as much as they had with Helena right next to her.

“I need a drink,” Helena said. “Be back in a minute. Want something?”

_Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol_.

“Just a water,” Dinah said.

Helena nodded, then flashed a rare smile, before heading off. There was a bar in view some way away, across the field from the range.

Dinah wasn’t sure whether or not she was glad. She enjoyed Helena’s company, but also enjoyed the respite from pretending like she wasn’t going to melt.

Half-heartedly, she tried to fire the arrow. It went better that time, ending up in one of the rings, though it felt less satisfying when she was alone. Curiously, she nocked another, preparing for an extra try.

She doubted she’d actually pick up the weapon, but there was something satisfying about sending the arrows whistling through the air. Just prepare, aim, try not to think about Helena guiding each movement, her hands-

“That’s it,” Helena said, suddenly appearing behind her again.

The arrow went wide. _Fuck_. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when you realize the most functional wlw in your story is Harley Quinn.

A lot of things still hadn’t clicked for Helena. She’d been so sure poker was what had her so interested, but she’d spent the morning with Dinah and barely thought about playing cards once. She’d even liked using the downright juvenile bow and arrow.

It was just confusing.

Lunch had been a refreshing break; Dinah hadn’t seemed quite so jittery that day. They relaxed for precious minutes, musing on the other options.

And musing turned into a walk. Dinah seemed motivated almost by spite, dedicated to proving that she could handle this resort. Helena was happy enough to go along with her; she led the way, remembering the places she’d seen on her last run around the site.

There were a number of nice-looking gardens around. Some were just carefully arranged flower-beds, patterns of colour up the side of hills, reds and yellows and blues, scarlets and golds and aquas, standing out from a distance. Others were more low-key, at first glance resembling a maze more than a garden.

Hedges grew tall, but were trimmed back, walls and archways sculpted from green with a construction so striking it took a moment to realise the variety of bushes that made it up.

Helena led the way through one of the arches, in among the rows of tall hedges. The leafy walls swallowed them up.

“Wouldn’t have thought plants were your things,” Dinah said.

Helena shrugged, glancing back.

“I can still notice when things look good,” Helena said. Her gaze lingered on Dinah.

She still wasn’t sure how compliments worked. Dinah had such a weird reaction to the last time Helena had tried to tell her she looked good; she didn’t want to push, though part of her just felt driven to remind Dinah of that every time she saw her.

It was an odd feeling, really. After so many years filled with planning and death, she’d doubted she’d have much in the way of positive words to say about anyone; instead, every time she saw Dinah she wanted to say dozens, hundreds of things. How good her hair looked, how impressive her kicks were, how downright badass that scream was, how well her tops suited her, how soft her lips looked… Since coming to the nudist resort, the number of potential compliments had grown exponentially.

Helena hesitated a moment, mentally going down the list to see if any felt easy to slot into conversation. After a second, she decided to give up, voice trailing off.

“Er,” Helena said. “It’s sort of… you were, er…”

She tried to speak up, but managed only to stammer; Dinah frowned, taking a few steps until she was side-by-side with Helena.

Normally she was better at finding the words than this, Helena swore that to herself. Her cheeks coloured slightly.

“Ithoughtyou’dlikeit,” Helena said in one breath.

Dinah’s eyebrows shot up.

“I mean, it’s… quiet,” Helena said, taking a second to make sure each word felt right. “You seemed… uncomfortable, yesterday, so I thought you’d like somewhere… else. Not the room, but just us.”

“Oh,” Dinah said. It was a second before she gave a slightly shaky smile. “Oh. That’s… Thanks, Helena.”

“It’s alright?” Helena said.

“Definitely,” Dinah said.

Dinah flashed a grin back at her. Helena felt a slightly disproportionate surge of joy at the sight, took a step forward, tripped on a root, and from years of training managed to hastily catch her balance and straighten as if nothing had happened.

She cleared her throat and kept walking.

It was surprising how much there was to see in among the winding bushes; Helena had only gone past the outside before. At first glance it seemed like it would just be narrow paths between hedges, but occasionally it opened up into larger spaces, little squares with fountains or flowerbeds in.

Dinah was relaxed, Helena noticed. More than usual. She’d thought Dinah was handling it well, for as much as being naked outside seemed to bother her, but the difference between when they’d been outside and when they were in the privacy of the hedges was palpable.

At least she assumed so. There was a half-aware smile on Dinah’s face, a slight easiness to her step.

They moved from one open space, through a narrow pathway of hedges, and into another open circle bordered by the tall hedges.

“Kinda nice,” Dinah said.

“The garden or the quiet?” Helena said.

“Both,” Dinah said. She hesitated. “It _is_ nice having no one around.”

“Except me,” Helena said.

She wasn’t sure why she said that. Something in her just wanted to make sure Dinah knew she was with her; barely thinking about it, she reached for Dinah, fingertips trailing down her wrist before finding her hand.

Dinah stiffened; Helena glanced across, in case she’d bothered her, but Dinah relaxed quickly enough.

“Yeah,” Dinah said. “Except you.”

“Better or worse than the archery?”

Dinah faltered. Her cheeks darkened a little; Helena frowned. Was that a blush?

Dinah coughed.

“I- er, is that just a way to make me talk smack on regular bows?” Dinah said.

“You didn’t like them?” Helena said.

“I- it-” Dinah began. She stammered. “It was… enjoyable in a… _different_ way.”

“Well. Yeah,” Helena said.

“It’s not really an either-or thing, is it?” Dinah said. “I’m not sure I could do that for too long without combu- needing a break, but I liked it.”

“Good,” Helena said. She paused. “Probably need more options to fill our time.”

Dinah winced. Right. Still a few more days there; Harley wasn’t one to do anything by halves.

“Dinah?” Helena said.

“Yeah, just been trying not to think about that,” Dinah said.

“Want to go back to the room?” Helena said, immediately concerned. Dinah smiled, expression flickering between several ambiguous possibilities.

“Probably not. At least yet. I can manage it, it’s just… how _long_ it’s going on,” Dinah said. “Weird to think about. Sure, I can stand it, but I can’t exactly pretend this is normal.”

“Huh. Right,” Helena said.

She paused contemplatively, absently glancing down at herself. It always came back to focus; sometimes she could just forget she was naked. As soon as she was doing something else, that was what mattered. It was hard to make this bother her.

She knew Dinah was different, but figuring out what she was and wasn’t comfortable with didn’t come naturally. Still, part of her felt driven to try.

“Don’t tell me you think this is normal now,” Dinah said. She started sounded teasing, before her eyes widened in what almost looked like horror. “Wait, don’t say you’re going to start doing this at _home_!”

Helena blinked. She could have just answered – while she could see some time-saving benefits, she also didn’t see the point if she was just going to have to dress to go out – but something in Dinah’s manner confused her.

“Why do you sound _scared_?” Helena said. “I wouldn’t make you get undressed.”

“Huh? I- no, I’m not- er-”

Helena blinked. Dinah continued to stumble over her words; Helena peered at her. That wasn’t like her.

“It’s just- you can’t- I’d- um…”

“I could be naked if I wanted to,” Helena said. “Me being there wouldn’t stop you doing anything.”

A vague squeaking noise escaped Dinah’s lips. Baffled, Helena continued to regard her, trying to figure out what had made her suddenly act so awkward.

Distracted, both of them missed the stranger coming up behind them.

“Unsolicited advice?”

They jumped, turning; Dinah instinctively crossed her arms, though it did at least seem to be more instinct than active embarrassment. The woman behind them, another of the resort’s patrons, smiled amiably.

“Let me guess. First time here together?” the woman said.

Helena nodded. Dinah looked at her in a panic.

“Always how it is, one partner’s more comfortable than the other,” the woman said. “It’s fine, but you need to communicate, like with anything. Do you mind if I ask, how long have you been together?”

“About three months,” Helena said. Mentally she checked the date; yeah, that had been when all the Sionis drama had gone down.

Dinah squeaked again.

“No, no,” Dinah interrupted. “We’re not, uh…”

“It’s okay,” the stranger said. “We’re accepting here. But you should visit _Radicans_ , the restaurant past the back, overlooking the river. Wonderful atmosphere; you have to make a reservation, but it’s so worth it.”

She smiled enthusiastically at them; Helena nodded politely, wondering why Dinah was _still_ acting weird. Normally she was the one to struggle talking to strangers.

“I’ll, er, remember that,” Helena said.

“You do that. Have fun, you two,” she said. She nodded to them, already departing. “Have a wonderful stay!”

Helena nodded vaguely back. That had been nice. Probably. Still, Helena found herself relaxing a little now she didn’t have to put on her polite-interaction face.

She turned around to Dinah, who still seemed to be squirming. Confused, Helena regarded her.

“Are you okay?” Helena said.

“Why did you act like we were together?” Dinah managed, faltering. Helena blinked.

“We _are_ together,” Helena reminded her. “We live together. Came here together.”

“That’s not what-” Dinah began, before cutting herself off. She sighed. “Never mind.”

Helena continued to be baffled.

“Are we… not?” Helena said.

Dinah opened and closed her mouth a few times. Helena wasn’t sure what she was meant to say; she _liked_ being with Dinah. How weren’t they together?

She looked at Dinah with wide, innocent, confused eyes.

“Not like…” Dinah began. Her voice trailed off. “I need a drink.”

Helena stared at her for a second more, then shrugged. She filed it away as just another example of weirdness.

 _Was_ it the nudity? Most of Dinah’s behaviour didn’t quite strike her as embarrassment, but she supposed she could be wrong about that. She’d always heard that was more blushing and self-consciousness than staring and stammering.

Oh well. Helena shrugged.

“Think there’s a way out over there,” Helena said.

She gestured; Dinah quickly started moving, a little unsteady on her feet. Helena followed fairly closely behind, under one leafy archway, a few steps left, then out into the open.

Dinah didn’t hesitate when she emerged, instead making a beeline for a nearby stall. Helena slowed. Huh, apparently she really did need a drink.

As she hesitated, it struck her that there was something oddly captivating about Dinah’s walk. She wasn’t sure why it had taken until Dinah was naked for her to see that, but now she was watching, it was all she could think about. Probably more admiration of Dinah’s skills, Helena reflected. Walking was close enough to physical activity to count.

Dinah was some distance away by the time Helena refocused. She steadied herself, and began to approach, shaking off whatever confusion she’d felt-

“So? How’s it going?”

And stopped as she heard a familiar voice. She turned; Harley was perched on a small rockery, wheedling slightly. She waved as Helena turned.

Helena suppressed a groan. Harley Quinn was… exhausting was probably the best word, as this whole situation attested. Helena didn’t dislike her, and generally didn’t seem to be as annoyed by her as a lot of other people were – if anything, she could find Harley’s shenanigans entertaining – but that didn’t make her immune to just being _tired_.

And a Harley with that wide, cheerful, terrifying smile promised that she almost certainly was going to be tired by the end of this.

“Well?” Harley said. “No answer? Kinda rude if you ask me. Did arrange this whole vacay for you.”

“ _Why_?” Helena said.

“Because I’m a helpful best friend,” Harley said. “Haven’t you been paying attention?”

Speaking of confusion, Helena reflected, this was another example. It wasn’t even puzzling over her own reactions, or trying to understand Dinah’s faltering and her long showers, it was why Harley had decided this was a good idea in the first place.

Something about that was just… It just didn’t quite click with her. Harley’s pranks tended to tend more towards the selfish, not the ‘free vacation.’

Though, Helena had to admit, she wasn’t especially bothered by it. It was frustrating to be trapped, of course, and she did miss the city, but the place was nice enough. The dress code didn’t bother her, and it was nice to spend time with Dinah. Very nice in fact, particularly when-

“Helpful how?” Helena said.

Harley paused. She reached out to wave her hand in front of Helena’s face; Helena batted her hand away.

“Hey!” Helena said.

“Just making sure you had eyes,” Harley said. “Huh. You do. Weird. Most people with eyes have noticed.”

“Noticed _what_?” Helena said.

“You and your massive crush on Dinah,” Harley said matter-of-factly.

Helena blinked.

“I have a crush on Dinah?” Helena scoffed.

And then she paused. She started thinking, reflecting, remembering how their stay at the resort had gone. She was fairly sure she knew what her favourite parts had been, and usually…

“I… have a crush on Dinah?” Helena said slowly.

Harley raised her eyebrows expectantly. She gestured for Helena to keep going: Helena’s eyes widened.

“I have a crush on Dinah!”

Harley applauded politely. Helena reeled. Okay, that did explain a lot.

She hesitated, gaze wandering; Dinah was already sat down, a small open-air area that served drinks offering her apparently much-needed alcohol. Helena swallowed.

“Okay, thanks, got to go,” Helena said quickly, before moving off quickly in the direction of Dinah.

“Wait!” Harley said. “Wait, I…”

She went ignored; Harley sighed, slightly grouchy, watching as Helena sped off. She pouted.

“I didn’t even get to ask if she could lift me up,” Harley muttered, annoyed. She looked back up after them. “Oh well. They’ll be grateful if it works. I’m _sure_ I can get bench-pressed then. Only polite.”

Then she was smiling happily. Humming to herself, Harley wandered off.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, originally this chapter wasn't going to be a thing, but then I realised I could spend more time on actually-notices-she's-smitten!Helena and hey, here we are.

Torture, Dinah reflected, slamming back another drink. This was definitely torture. First Helena had put the image in her head of her being naked even back at Dinah’s apartment, then they’d been mistaken for a couple, and _then_ the first place she saw that sold refreshments barely had any quality alcohol.

And alcohol definitely seemed like a good thing. She gulped until her glass was empty and her throat was burning, and tried not to hyperventilate.

 _Fuck_.

And all that was after a reminder of how long they’d be stuck at the resort. Which wasn’t helping. Dinah swayed slightly, sitting back.

Then she saw Helena approach, Helena in all her toned, near-amazonian glory. Dinah braced herself for some innocent remark that would more than likely still torment her.

Instead, she got nothing. Helena was staring at her with wide eyes and a new expression, quietly taking a seat just opposite her, barely even blinking.

This wasn’t much of a bar. There was a marked-out area on the pavement, and a handful of circular metal tables with chairs around each, with a stall by the wall. Dinah was just glad it served gin. Ruminating on whether this counted as sapphic heaven or sapphic hell was much harder to do on orange juice.

And Helena was still sat opposite her. Dinah emphatically kept her eyes on Helena’s face; she’d learned her lesson about assuming she was getting used to everything.

Though even that wasn’t exactly stopping her from having a crush. At least Helena’s expression was a distraction from that; Dinah hadn’t seen her look like that before. Wide-eyed, mouth slightly open, for once sitting upright rather than lounging.

“Er. You okay?” Dinah said.

Helena blinked. A second later and she stiffened, apparently realizing that time was passing.

“Er, yes, yes. I’m okay. I’m fine. Great. Perfect,” Helena said.

Dinah carefully put her glass down.

“…Okay,” Dinah said slowly. “Are you… sure about that?”

“I’m sure,” Helena said. She didn’t look away, instead quickly changing the subject. “Your hair looks good.”

In retrospect, Dinah was very glad she’d put her glass down, because if she’d been drinking she was pretty sure some of it would’ve come out her nose.

Did that count as getting better at adjusting, or not? She honestly wasn’t sure.

“Um… thanks?” Dinah said.

Helena was smiling. It was a slightly unnerving sight.

“Wanted to say. Don’t think I have said that before. Felt like I should,” Helena said.

She was back to being terse at least. That was more comforting, even if Helena being affectionate was… disconcerting. Also, _really_ not helping the rest of the thoughts whirling around Dinah’s head.

She tentatively took another sip of her drink, keeping one eye on Helena in case her friend was going to surprise her with any extra comments.

“So. Do you like my hair?” Helena said.

Dinah blinked; Helena at least seemed as confused as she was, though that wasn’t explaining why _she_ was the one saying it.

“You care about hairstyles now?” Dinah said.

“I just want your opinion,” Helena said. Her cheeks coloured a little. “Do you not like me, or…”

“It looks, er…” _Gorgeous. Like I’d like to run my fingers through it. Like I’d like to gently push it back so I could kiss down-_ “Good.”

Helena was staring at her again, though now she seemed more like she was trying to piece something together. Dinah met her gaze with equal confusion.

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” Dinah said.

“I’m fine!” Helena said, a little too loudly.

“Because I didn’t think you care about, well, that,” Dinah said.

“I don’t, I just, er… I wanted to know what you thought. If you, er, I wanted to hear your opinion, see… do you, er…”

Dinah raised her eyebrows. Okay, that was a… new look on Helena.

If she was going to take a guess at an adjective, part of her mind was insisting on smitten. But, no, that was ridiculous, that was wishful thinking; Helena had hardly been showing any signs up to that point. She was holding it together.

Dinah, on the other hand, was the person struggling to keep a crush in check. This was not helping.

“If you wanted to go to dinner!” Helena finished suddenly, changing tracks. “Yeah. That. Right.”

“I assumed we were going to eat together,” Dinah said slowly. “Always do.”

“I mean, that place the woman in the garden suggested,” Helena said. “She said it sounded nice.”

The place the… Dinah’s eyes widened suddenly as she remembered; the place the woman who’d assumed they were a couple had recommended. Yeah, that was the last thing she needed, a dinner with Helena in some romantic setting. A dinner with a _naked_ Helena somewhere romantic.

Another gulp of gin. Dinah swayed a little, trying not to think about it.

“Room service not enough?” Dinah said.

Helena’s face fell. Suddenly Dinah felt conflicted. It was frightening how well a dangerous assassin could pull off a hurt-puppy look.

“You don’t want to?” Helena said.

Dinah tried to find the words to express, appropriately, that she wasn’t sure she’d survive an oblivious date-night with Helena. Very few options presented themselves.

What few phrases she did think of immediately rebelled at the look Helena was giving her.

“You want to go?” Dinah said hesitantly.

And now Helena was stumbling over her words again. Okay, what the _fuck_.

“It’s how it’s done,” Helena said eventually. She paused, then nodded, apparently happy with her answer. “If you’re okay with it.”

“How what’s done?” Dinah said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Helena said quickly.

Dinah blinked.

“The… restaurant the woman mentioned?” Dinah said. “Didn’t she say something about needing a reservation?”

“Oh! Right,” Helena said. She paused. “We could check it out. Make one. You can see if you think you’d be comfortable there.”

“I… okay,” Dinah said. “If you know the way.”

“I remember,” Helena said.

She hesitated, still sitting for a couple of seconds as if she were processing. Eventually she seemed to remember to stand, and Dinah hastily gulped down her drink as her eye-level view of Helena was replaced with something distinctly _not_.

It might be dangerous to keep alcohol in easy reach, Dinah reflected.

As far as ways to let Helena down easy though, she hoped this would work. Surely they couldn’t just show up in the afternoon to get a reservation the same evening? She didn’t know _why_ Helena suddenly wanted to take her to dinner, but as much as she appreciated it, if they were stuck in this resort for a few more days, she had to take care of her gay heart.

Dinah got up, and followed Helena down the brick path.

She was starting to get a feel for how the resort was laid out. She’d been around it often enough; it helped that, away from the lobby, the place was generally quieter. There were people, but there was never a crowd.

That, admittedly, was the one bit she didn’t look forward to. Every time she came down from their room, she had to pass through the lobby, and there were always dozens of people there.

It was bearable with no one going out of their way to remind her of her nudity, but it was still a _lot_. It always felt more overwhelming when she was still buzzing from just how close she and Helena seemed to end up at night.

Ironically, being out in the open was a lot easier to handle. Sure, the gentle breeze was a constant reminder that, yep, still naked, but there was barely anyone to see.

Honestly though, she did genuinely believe she’d adjusted, at least on a basic level. Wandering around like this didn’t affect her nearly as much as the fact she was wandering around with Helena.

“You have a nice walk,” Helena said.

And with a Helena that spouted non sequiturs. Dinah blinked.

“Um. Thanks?” Dinah said.

Helena smiled to herself, and turned her head forwards again.

They came upon the restaurant not long after. The name _Radicans_ was spelt out over the doorway – Dinah had no idea what that was meant to mean, and just then didn’t particularly care.

At first glance, the place seemed ordinary. There were only so many ways buildings could look. A wall, glass doors, a glimpse of a desk just past the door… They walked under the wooden board that gave the place’s name to go inside.

And once they were inside, _that_ was when Dinah started to worry. There was no access to the main body of the restaurant, not so early, but past the rope-barrier she could still see it. Tables just small enough to be intimate, several remarkably cosy-looking booths, small candles in glass-cups on each table, flowers as decoration (and she could’ve sworn they were roses of all things), and that was just the tables.

At the far side, she saw that one wall had been replaced almost completely by windows, a glass surface looking onto the view outside. For once, Dinah’s immediate reaction wasn’t concern about her modesty; it didn’t look like a particularly accessible location. No, it just looked picturesque. A field of flowers, a carefully shaped lake…

Dinah had never really considered herself one for nature. She’d heard all the clichés, but trees and fields and whatever had never clicked for her. That wasn’t what made it stand out; what made it stick in her mind was how different it was.

There was never going to be anything that bright and colourful in Gotham. It was the kind of rarity that marked it as special, a place to make memories, a place to come to _with_ someone special.

Which, sure, Helena _was_ , but there was no getting around the fact that this was a place for dates. Pictures on the walls, flowers on each table, god-damn _candlelight_.

She barely realized she’d frozen in the doorway until Helena turned around, concerned.

“Too much like the bar?” Helena said.

Her voice was halting. There was a furrow in her brow, a catch in her voice; there was sympathy, but also hope. _That_ Dinah didn’t know what to make of.

She had an easy out though, Dinah realized. Just say she couldn’t handle it. _Technically_ it was true, even if her issue wasn’t self-consciousness. She knew Helena wouldn’t make her.

Still, she paused, looking out into the restaurant. She imagined sitting at a side booth with Helena, facing each other… And she swallowed. Even if the whole place was packed, she was pretty sure there was only one thing she’d be thinking about.

Heat rose to her cheeks. She met Helena’s gaze, and faltered.

She _could_ back out. But the same thing that made the prospect so nerve-wracking was the same thing that made her not want to disappoint Helena. Helena wanted this, and she wasn’t going to say no based on a lie.

Although…

“Er, see if they have a reservation,” Dinah said. “I can handle it, just…”

Yeah. That was the easy way out. There was no way a place this fancy wasn’t packed.

Dinah tried not to think about what Helena’s relieved smile made her feel.

Unconsciously, Dinah crossed her arms, walking over the threshold after Helena.

“Hello? Table for two,” Helena said.

She leaned over the desk, facing the staff member on the other side. Dinah bit her lip, refraining from commenting on how that sounded. They’d been mistaken for a couple once that day already. It had been awkward _then_ too.

“Reserving?” the staff member said. “For when?”

“Tonight?” Helena said hopefully.

“Ah, we’re fully booked, you should have come sooner,” the clerk said.

Helena’s expression fell. Dinah suppressed a sigh of relief.

“If you want, leave your name and room number with me,” the clerk said. “I can’t promise anything, but if we get a cancellation, we’ll call you.”

“Okay. Bertinelli, room-”

“Wait,” the clerk said. “Bertinelli, as in Bertinelli-Lance?”

Dinah looked up sharply; Helena frowned.

“Yes?” she said.

“Oh, we already have your reservation, don’t worry,” the clerk said. “Your friend came by earlier.”

Helena glanced back, glad; Dinah meanwhile took a step forward.

“Wait,” Dinah said. “Our _friend_?”

“Yes,” the clerk said. “She didn’t leave a name. Er, blonde, quite… energetic. You’ve been booked in here every evening, we did wonder why you weren’t coming.”

Dinah ground her teeth. Harley. _Again_.

“Huh. Helpful, for her,” Helena said. “Maybe she’s making it up to us?”

“…Sure. Let’s go with that,” Dinah said.

“This evening?” Helena said.

“Six-thirty to ten,” the clerk said helpfully. “You’ve made a good choice. Most couples who stay here say this was one of the highlights of their stay.”

“I’m sure they do,” Dinah said, gritting her teeth.

Fuck.

That was one more entry on the list of ‘reasons to kill Harley.’ Dinah walked out of the door before she said something she knew she’d regret, trying to remind herself of why murder was generally frowned upon.

“That’s good,” Helena said, coming out after her. She spoke more cheerily than Dinah had ever heard; Dinah glanced back.

“You’d tell me if you were an alien doppelganger, right?” Dinah said.

“What?” Helena said. She blinked.

“Crazier shit happens,” Dinah said. She sighed. “Look, you’re being… cheerful. Perky. Very… un-you.”

“Oh. Right,” Helena said.

She paused, apparently deciding not to offer any explanation.

“What do you want to do before dinner?” Helena said.

“No idea,” Dinah said. She exhaled. “You?”

“Happy with anything,” Helena shrugged. “Archery again? You were good at that. Liked watching.”

 _Yeah, me too_. Dinah swallowed, trying to push down the return of that mental image.

“Er, anything else?” Dinah said.

“We never got to have that game of pool, if you’re ready?” Helena said.

And _that_ suddenly gave Dinah the mental image of Helena bent over the table to line up a shot. She lingered on the image for a moment, then caught herself, scolded herself, and tried not to stammer too much.

“T-tomorrow,” Dinah managed. Not in the same day as a candlelit dinner. “Maybe.”

Helena paused, unsure.

“You got anything?” Helena said. “Like spending time with you.”

Dinah refused to let her mind go down the path of analysing _that_.

“Just walk?” Dinah said. “You can show the rest of the place off.”

“Sure,” Helena said. “If that’s what you want?”

“Give us something to talk about over dinner,” Dinah said.

Oh. I kinda already had a topic in mind,” Helena said.

Dinah blinked; Helena didn’t elaborate, already starting to walk off. Dinah stared after her, promptly realized that staring after a departing Helena was going to make her start swooning again, and hurried after her.

What was _that_ all about?

Oh well. Either way, the most she could hope for was a distraction. So long as she could think of anything other than the meal, she’d be fine. She’d be…

Helena glanced back at her, to make sure she was following, a light grin on her face. Dinah gulped.

Scratch that. She was doomed. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, here we are!  
> Thank you to everyone who stuck with me on this weird idea, thank you especially to everyone that commented, and thanks to the friend that inspired this. And, well, enjoy I guess.

Dinah had mixed feelings. A semi-formal dinner ‘date’ at a nudist resort was quite an experience. On one hand, she didn’t have to spend ages picking out a dress, and only worrying about the make-up she’d brought with her wasn’t so bad. On the other, she wasn’t entirely sure how to do her make-up for, well, everywhere else. Was that even a thing?

Whatever. She was not learning the ins-and-outs for this one stay.

Although speaking of pros-and-cons, Helena. Just Helena. Helena with her slightly messy, utterly charming hair, her smile on a face clearly unused to smiling, the slight scratchiness in her voice…

Fuck.

On a not-a-date with someone that breath-taking was… a lot. On a not-a-date at a nudist resort…

Dinah had tried to think about that, and promptly regretted it. She’d seen a lot of Helena over the past couple of days so she was more than familiar with every muscle, every scar, every bit of her body, and imagining her sat like that across from her was definitely something Dinah knew she wouldn’t forget.

But in the same way, she’d imagined Helena both in a tux and a formal dress to try and gauge which was worse. Her conclusion was that Helena was just unfairly pretty in any given outfit and frankly she wasn’t sure she could take it.

“Ready?” Helena said.

She was standing by the door to their room, and offering her hand to Dinah, a smirk on her face that – if Dinah didn’t know better – seemed actively _trying_ to be seductive. Shakily, Dinah approached, trying to keep her gaze at eye-level.

“Yeah. Yeah. Sure,” Dinah managed.

And just because she was sure Helena in any kind of formalwear would have a comparable effect on her did not mean she wasn’t going to end up a mess by the end of a night with a naked Helena because _holy fuck_.

The walk to the restaurant took too long, and took no time at all.

The resort had a very different atmosphere in the evening. The air was cooler against her skin, as if she needed yet another reminder, and the place was naturally darker; just enough lights were in place to make navigating the resort easier, which keeping the illumination to the more aesthetically pleasing locations.

There were lamps buried in bushes, surrounded by flowers. The pool was lit up by lights below the water, sending rippling rays out onto the quiet pathways around it. Then there were the lights from within the hotel itself, various locations for entertainment marking the way through the hotel.

There was beauty in the simplicity and the tranquillity, a quiet that set her at ease more than night-time walks usually did. With Helena’s hand in hers, her grip insistent, it was almost idyllic.

That was the _problem_.

When they reached their destination, Dinah was both sad the walk was over, and glad she didn’t need to keep schooling her expression. Unfortunately that wasn’t the end though.

_Radicans_ , the name was illuminated like before; Dinah took a deep breath and followed Helena inside, let Helena introduce them to the clerk, and let herself be led to their table.

Despite her earlier confidence, she had in truth been a little worried about walking through the restaurant as she was. It didn’t matter how many days she spent here, every time she was out of her room and caught a glimpse of her reflection, or of herself out of the corner of her eye, some small part did insist on screaming _naked_ at her, even if no one else was making a big deal of it.

Normally it was easier to ignore, with rare exceptions. Walking past several tables of people felt like it ought to be one of those exceptions. Even if she could settle down when she actually sat down at the table, and got to use it for cover, the journey should have been overwhelming.

It was arguably a good thing, then, that she could see the candle on the table they were heading to, and the starlit lake and flowery field just outside the window they were going to be right next to. _That_ she was dreading so much more.

She still sat down quickly, slipping her legs under the table and delicately laying a serviette over her lap. Helena, as ever, remained maddeningly unconcerned.

“Nice,” Helena said.

Dinah tore her eyes up from the menu, forgoing the futile distraction. It took her a few seconds to find any remotely coherent words.

Out for dinner. Someplace fancy. A nice view. Candlelight. Helena. Boobs. _Fuck_.

“Er. Yeah,” Dinah said.

Helena hesitated, for one moment looking uncharacteristically confused; Dinah missed it, too busy forcing herself to look away. She could already feel herself flushing.

“So. Nice, um, face,” Helena said.

Dinah was halfway to reaching for a complimentary glass of water and promptly thought better of it.

Right. Helena and compliments. She steadied herself.

“Er. Thanks,” Dinah said. There, tactful. “You too.” Wait shit no.

Another moment of silence. Dinah wasn’t sure whether to be glad Helena apparently found this as awkward as she did.

“I’m not… great at this,” Helena said eventually. Dinah looked up, frowning. “Seen movies. That’s about it. You compliment a dress, not an option here, go to dinner or some shit, I figure that’s how it’s done.”

“What?” Dinah said, bewildered.

“Oh. Er-” Helena began.

“May I take your order?”

“Fuck!”

The approaching waitress took a step away, slightly taken aback; Dinah looked between the two, still utterly confused.

“Should I come back later?” the waitress said uncertainly.

Helena hesitated, then sighed, shaking her head. She glanced over to Dinah, quickly scanning her own menu.

Right. Okay. That was something else to focus on. Dinah quickly made an order, keeping her gaze down at the menu until the last possible second, as the waitress took it away. When Helena had ordered too, she left.

“What was that all about?” Dinah said, bemused.

“I had a whole… fuck, where was I?” Helena said.

“You’re asking me?” Dinah said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m… shit, mentioned the dress, movie, dinner… what was next?” Helena muttered. She growled at herself. “I know things aren’t exactly typical. I kill people, you scream _really_ loudly, we’re… here.”

“Helena,” Dinah said, dropping her voice.

Helena caught herself; she had a tendency to not mind her volume when she talked. It was amassing a few stares.

“Oh for-” Helena said, then lowered her voice, glaring at the other tables. It did an effective job of making them look away. “You can take care of yourself. It’s good. Even handled a bow pretty well. And the Birds of Prey have been a lot of fun.”

Dinah carefully put her glass down, regarding Helena as she chose her next words. Was… was Helena _leaving_? Was that why she was being so weird suddenly?

Like, she knew Helena had never really been one for settling down. She’d been up and down the country on her whole mission of revenge, and her hanging around after everything that went down did initially seem to be from just convenience. It wasn’t exactly impossible to believe Helena might be ready to move on.

Dinah just wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it. As utterly frustrating as this stay had been, none of that was Helena’s fault, she was just badass, gorgeous and Dinah was just so, _so_ captivated.

She got a weird, twisty feeling in her stomach just thinking about it. Even if it would make the pining easier, she didn’t _want_ to say goodbye.

“Um. Helena,” Dinah said, a little shakily. “Where is this going?”

“Getting there!” Helena said. “The last few months, well they’ve been fucking awesome, that’s what, every second I could spend with you. And Renee, but I’m talking to you, and about you, so… shit, where was I?”

“Wait,” Dinah said. “Before you continue-”

“I’d _really_ like to finish first,” Helena said.

“I know, just, it’s been great for me too, but please-”

“Dinah!”

“Just, if you’re-”

“I’m trying to say I fucking like you, okay!” Helena said, voice lifting again.

Dinah froze. Paused. Blinked. She could feel her brain slowly poring over Helena’s words, examining each one in excruciating detail, ticking from syllable to syllable. Eventually she remembered to breathe.

_Huh_.

“You’re… not leaving?” Dinah said.

“Leaving? Why would I be-” Helena began. She paused, then her expression fell. “Do… Do you want me to leave?”

“No! God, no,” Dinah said. “ _No_. I thought that was where you were… you like me?”

Helena flushed slightly. Dinah would give her that, there was almost nothing Helena could have said that would have quite so effectively made her forget the fact they were at a nudist resort. For a few moments, there was nothing in the world but Helena’s voice.

“Um. Yeah,” Helena said. She hesitated. “I’ve been flirting with you all afternoon. Made it kinda obvious. You might be a bit oblivious.”

Dinah stared.

Part of her mind was still replaying _I fucking like you_ over and over. It was, so very slowly, starting to sink in. Wait. _Wait_.

“Like?” Dinah said. “As in-”

She caught herself. No, there was no fucking way she was going to say ‘like like’ like some kind of schoolgirl.

Helena was staring at her. It was an unusual stare, sizing her up, gauging her reaction, preparing to put up walls, all kinds of things at once. For the first time, she actually seemed uncertain; it was something of a shock when Dinah final understood what she was seeing.

_Oh_.

“God damn it,” Dinah muttered.

Helena blinked.

“Erm. So that’s a…” Helena said.

“That’s a ‘I cannot believe I was pining for _this_ long, _this_ much, when I could’ve just said,” Dinah said. She groaned. “C’mere already.”

Dinah leaned forwards; Helena’s eyes widened, and she gladly leaned in too, closing the distance between them.

In retrospect, leaning over a table wasn’t the most comfortable position for a first kiss. It was just… well, any kiss without something separating them would’ve ended up a hell of a lot more intimate than any first kiss ever should. That level of proximity they could save for when they weren’t at a restaurant.

Besides, it was hard to not be impatient. Dinah had been staring at Helena’s lips an awful lot; it was one of the easier places to look after all. Anything above her shoulders that didn’t entail staring into her eyes.

They didn’t disappoint.

Academically, Dinah knew the kiss wasn’t perfect: their position was awkward, neither of them seemed to know quite how much pressure to apply and get going back and forth, their noses bumped on the first attempt… But once it started, Dinah honestly couldn’t say she cared about any of the flaws.

And when, slowly, they pulled back, there was a Harley between them. She clapped.

“Do I get a thank you?” Harley said.

And _there_ went the mood. Dinah groaned, glancing at the table and disappointed to see there was nothing stronger than water.

“Harley,” Dinah said warningly.

“I’m just saying, you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me, so you wouldn’t be smooching if it weren’t for me,” Harley said. “I’d say that earned a thank you.”

“Wait, all this… resort stuff was for… that?” Helena said.

“Yup!” Harley said cheerfully. She paused, looking between the two, before talking a gulp of Dinah’s water. “Well. Mostly.”

Dinah snatched her glass back.

“Alright, well done, you can go now,” Dinah said.

“Well that’s just rude,” Harley said.

“I’m trying to eat here,” Dinah said.

“I bet,” Harley said. She winked obviously.

“ _Dinner_ ,” Dinah growled.

Harley pouted.

Helena seemed about to add something when a waitress came up to their table. She paused a step behind Harley, evidently nonplussed by the third guest.

“Um. Would you like to order?” the waitress said, to Harley.

“She’s just leaving,” Dinah said.

Harley pouted again. Still (to Helena and Dinah’s great relief), she stood up and walked away, stopping only to look back over her shoulder and poke her tongue out.

The waitress handed out their meals before leaving. They went ignored for a good few seconds as the two stared at each other.

“You know, when I imagined this, there was significantly less Harley,” Dinah said.

“You… imagined this?” Helena said.

“Er,” Dinah coughed. “Once or twice.” _Or three times. Or four times. Or a thousand._ “That’s not the point!”

“I was going to say it sounded nice,” Helena said.

“You were?”

“Nice thoughts,” Helena said. “I never did much of that. Planned something, saw it through, less… imagining.”

She hesitated.

“So is now a good time to say that it is _really_ distracting when you’re naked all the time?” Helena said.

“I know how that feels,” Dinah said. She laughed, relieved. “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.”

“Not bad-distracting,” Helena said quickly. “Just… distracting-distracting.”

“Mm,” Dinah said. “Very, very good distracting, and also going-to-melt-into-a-puddle-if-it-keeps-up.”

“You get it!” Helena said. “Why, have you felt anything like it?”

Dinah blinked. She looked over the table and quirked one eyebrow; it was a surprisingly few seconds before it clicked for Helena. She blushed slightly.

“ _Ohhh_.”

After a second, they started on their meals. It was a moment before Dinah looked up.

“To change the subject,” Dinah said. “What about after dinner? Do you want to find somewhere to talk, or is there anywhere-”

“Room,” Helena said.

“You haven’t even heard the options yet,” Dinah said.

“Don’t care. We’re going to our room,” Helena said.

“Huh? Why?” Dinah said.

That time it was Helena that looked across the table, not needing any words. Her silence was probably a good thing to, because the things her eyes were saying would probably have gotten them kicked out from the restaurant.

“ _Ohhh_ ,” Dinah said. Helena caught herself.

“I mean, unless you don’t-” Helena began.

“There is _no_ way I am turning that down, okay?” Dinah said. “Trust me.”

Helena smiled, and proceeded to eat a little bit faster.

* * *

Dinner had finished an hour ago, and the two had returned to their room. Night had fallen more completely, only a handful of the lights outside still on; most paths and corridors were still.

The exception to that was the corridor just outside the door to their room. There, a pigtailed, beaming blonde stood. She knocked eagerly on the door.

A messy-haired, tired-looking, glaring Helena answered.

“Hey!” Harley chirped. “I never got my thank you. See, I was thinking-”

Helena shut the door. Harley glowered.

Five minutes later she knocked again. And again. And again.

Eventually Dinah answered. There were a few scratches down her sides.

“I’m going to scream,” Dinah said. “Don’t think I won’t. Be very careful. You know what happens when I scream.”

“Tell her, not me,” Harley said, gesturing into the room.

Dinah continued to glare.

“Aren’t you grateful?” Harley said. “I _told_ you that you could leave it to me, and look what happened. Ta-da, one couple, courtesy of yours truly.”

“Not _now_ ,” Dinah growled.

“But-” Harley began.

Dinah shut the door. Harley pointedly stuck her tongue out at the spyhole.

Ten minutes later and she was knocking even more insistently. She didn’t stop until the door opened. Both of them stood there.

“Can I join?” Harley said hopefully.

Then ducked to narrowly avoid a thrown clock. The door slammed shut.

“Well there’s gratitude for ya…” Harley muttered. Irritated, she turned and sulkily stormed away.

* * *

“I dunno, you guys were awful rude last night,” Harley said.

“Last night was _last night_ ,” Dinah said placatingly. “Besides, if getting us together was the reason for this, you got what you wanted. That’s not something you’d want to interrupt, right?”

Harley paused thoughtfully.

She’d been rather easy to find, all things considered. She didn’t particularly seem to be bothering to hide now; she’d been at the resort’s breakfast buffet, eagerly waving when Dinah and Helena had walked in.

Which had suited them just fine, for once. At least now Harley wasn’t getting in the way. That, and they’d had time to talk that morning, and for that matter pack.

“You know we can’t stay out here forever, right?” Helena said.

“Is this about the car thing?” Harley whined. “Again?”

“Of _course_ it’s about the car!” Dinah said. “How are we supposed-”

Dinah paused, taking a breath and calming herself. Helena was rubbing off on her. More levelly, she continued.

“We were going to ask you for a lift,” Dinah said. “Seeing as you came all the way up here somehow. We can talk more on the way back.”

Harley paused.

“If I say yes, there are conditions,” Harley said.

“Like?” Dinah said. She suppressed a groan.

“I want to be bench-pressed by Helena,” Harley said firmly.

“Um,” Helena said.

“Ten times,” Harley said. “Five for getting you two lovebirds together, five for the ride. Deal?”

“I don’t see… okay. Deal,” Helena said.

Harley grinned happily.

“Okay, you two want to wait out your stay, or-”

“Now,” Dinah and Helena said at once. Dinah continued: “Definitely _now_.”

“Oh,” Harley pouted for a second, then shrugged. “Follow me!”

And then Harley was sprinting off, as without shame as ever. Dinah and Helena followed, lugging their cases along, sharing a look.

Dinah was still somewhat surprised by how well she’d adjusted to the nudity. When she’d first arrived there, she couldn’t have pictured herself taking off for one of the car parks with nothing on but her shoes and a suitcase, but here she was.

Then again, maybe she was still just walking on air slightly. That was a possibility too; a thrill rushed through her just by Helena glancing back to make sure she was keeping up.

Dinah carefully made sure not to comment as they made it to the car park. Somehow she could guess which one was Harley’s. Mostly because it was _her_ fucking car, the one Harley had driven off with months back.

No. Don’t comment on that just yet.

Harley cheerfully skipped over the door, landing in the convertible in front of the wheel. She gave a wide grin that was not encouraging on anyone driving a car.

“Well?” she said. “Get in!”

Dinah and Helena shared another dubious look. Helena got in first; Dinah slowed as she walked up, looking down at the back.

“Is that meant to be there?” Dinah said.

“Is what?” Harley said.

She looked back. Then, impatient as ever, slipped out of the car, walking back around to where Dinah was. As she was heading around, Dinah quickly slipped into the front of the car.

“I don’t see anything,” Harley said. She looked up from the rear wheels to see Dinah in the driver’s seat. “Hey!”

“Floor it!” Helena said.

And with Helena laughing delightedly behind her, Dinah quickly started to accelerate, Harley waving her arms and chasing after the car for almost a minute behind them. Eventually though, she was categorically out-sped.

Panting, Harley slumped. She glanced at the road around her, then at the resort, then shrugged.

“Some people,” she muttered. “No appreciation.”

Tutting, she turned and wandered back to the resort. She could probably wheedle another favour out of the owner, at any rate.

* * *

Helena kicked up her feet, laying across the back seat of the convertible, head sticking out over the edge and letting the wind run through her hair. A couple of suitcases were in the gaps between her and the front seats, making an effective enough armrest.

Dinah, meanwhile, was still driving; she’d slowed a bit as they started to put more distance between themselves and the resort, spending a bit of time on country side-roads to reduce the possibility of being followed.

The road was quiet. No cars passing them by (thankfully), and empty views of fields around them.

“Harley’s gonna be mad,” Helena said.

“Yeah, well, she stole it from me in the first place,” Dinah said. “She’ll cope.”

“Wasn’t a complaint,” Helena said.

She smiled, leaning further back and taking a deep breath as the air rushed past her. Dinah risked a glance back, and narrowly avoided swerving.

“So, you don’t mind leaving early?” Dinah said.

“Liked the company more than the place,” Helena said. She shrugged. “You?”

“Same,” Dinah said. She chuckled. “ _Hard_ same. Be nice to see the city again.”

Dinah paused.

“Even Renee is never going to let us live it down,” Dinah said. “Go off to a nudist resort, come back a couple of days later dating.”

“We’re dating?” Helena said.

“Er. I assumed… Wasn’t that were we ended up?” Dinah said. She faltered. “Unless I’m misreading-”

“No, no,” Helena said quickly. “I like it. Just hadn’t thought of the word yet.”

“So that’s a yes?” Dinah said.

“Mm,” Helena said.

Dinah couldn’t help but smile at that. She glanced in the side mirror, seeing Helena relaxing.

Okay. Maybe it hadn’t been the worst vacation ever.

It was a few minutes before Helena rapped a hand on the top of one of the suitcases, speaking up. She shifted, drawing inwards when there started to be hedges by the side of the road.

“So, are we getting dressed soon?” Helena said.

Ah. Right. Dinah coughed, cheeks warming. Yeah, she _definitely_ hadn’t been thinking about that.

“Er, I can pull over,” Dinah said. She paused. “Before we get to any populated roads at least. You can unpack one of your outfits now, if you need to. You’re not the one driving.”

“Nah. I can wait,” Helena said.

Dinah swallowed. She couldn’t help but glance at the mirror again; no, she was not going to crash the car, she told herself. Definitely not.

Helena shifted behind her again, lounging as casually as ever. Still, she kept an eye on Dinah, smiling fondly while remaining utterly immodest. And, apparently intentionally going by her smirk, right in the view of her rear-view mirror.

“Something wrong?” Helena said.

Dinah gulped. Okay, this might be a long journey. Though, she suspected, not an unpleasant one.

“Nope. Definitely not,” Dinah said. 


End file.
